10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 1988 Facts

1. The Event Did Well Enough On Pay-Per-View

SummerSlam 88
WWE.com

Macho Madness and Hulkamania remained hot commodities in the summer of 1988, and the allure of big-time WWE wrestling continued to hold plenty of drawing power on pay-per-view. The injection of an August event on a largely-untested pay-per-view landscape came with some financial risk, but SummerSlam would prove to be a success.

In all, the pay-per-view did about 400,000 buys, quite impressive for the era. The fact that flagship WrestleMania pulled in 485,000 buys five months earlier makes SummerSlam's total all the more noteworthy, meaning that fans viewed SummerSlam as being relatively on par with the pre-established Super Bowl of wrestling.

After all, there have been 28 SummerSlams since, with the thirtieth annual on the way this summer, so calling the first SummerSlam a success for WWE is quite an understatement.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.