10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 1988 Facts
WWE solidifies its Big Four with an end-of-summer bash.
If there's anything that opportunistic Vince McMahon enjoys doing (aside from the given, "make bucket-loads of cash"), it's fill the Gregorian calendar with WWE events that will make those bucket-loads of cash. With Survivor Series debuting in November 1987, followed by a cable broadcast of The Royal Rumble in January 1988, McMahon was still left with a gap between early-spring WrestleMania, and Thanksgiving night Survivor Series. That's where SummerSlam came in.
With a marketable, larger-than-life roster that featured mega-stars like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Ted Dibiase, and reigning champion Macho Man Randy Savage, it was worth seeing if fans would buy into a superstar showcase as summer wound down. Since 1988, SummerSlam has been a cornerstone of WWE's calendar, something of a B+/A- WrestleMania each August, where big feuds could be settled, and notable title changes would have a spotlight to take place under.
The original SummerSlam, emanating from New York's hallowed Madison Square Garden on Monday night, August 29, 1988, was a mixed bag. There wasn't much in the way of high-quality in-ring action, and Superstar Billy Graham's overly-giddy commentary sure didn't help, but so much of the card was quintessential eighties WWE, with a fun main event, and a historic title change.
Here are ten facts about SummerSlam 1988 you may not have known.
10. Vince Tried To Bring In Ric Flair For The Show
The dirty play between WWE and Jim Crockett's NWA/WCW promotion continued to heat up over the previous year. Survivor Series and Royal Rumble were conceived in order to derail Crockett's Starrcade and Bunkhouse Stampede events, and the Carolina kingpin fought back by putting a televised Clash of The Champions against WrestleMania 4.
Flair had reigned as NWA World Champion since November 1987, and recalls being pitched an opportunity to jump to WWE in the summer of 1988. Potentially, Flair would have wrestled WWE Champion Randy Savage in what would have been a historic champion-vs-champion encounter to headline the maiden SummerSlam.
So what happened? Flair felt loyalty to NWA and the Crockett family, and it was later revealed that the ownership group headed by Ted Turner (who bought up NWA's assets in November 1988) would not have bought the company if Flair wasn't part of the package. The Crocketts were in a financial quandary, and it's believed that one of Flair's biggest reasons for staying was to help them secure that deal.