10 Lies About Famous Wrestling Matches That You Probably Believe
8. "SummerSlam 1992 Didn't Draw"
SummerSlam 1992 was a big draw, earned the then-WWF huge sums of cash, and in general was an astute business decision.
Vince McMahon took his cold, declining wrestling promotion to one of the few places in which, as a result of the Sky Sports wresting boom, it was still red hot. The buy rate dropped 33% from the prior year's show, an expected decline given wider levels of interest, but the monster of a live gate, per Dave Meltzer's workings, meant that the show performed better financially than SummerSlam '91 and indeed offset declines in the business elsewhere.
To put it in a more succinct way: WWF SummerSlam 1992 was an inspired workaround to its domestic woes.
Try telling that to Triple H, who when quizzed about WWE running such an event in Britain again was all too quick to bury it as a failure. That a man who rated his in-ring ability a 4/10 headlined said show might have something to do with it.
The fallout of the event muddies its perception in retrospect. The British Bulldog was as over as any wrestler in any country ever in '92, but his abrupt exit meant that his popularity scans as an aberration; moreover, Hart never again pulled in a crowd of that size. This doesn't detract from the show's success.
Isn't it funny, almost exactly as HHH was demoted, WWE hurriedly made plans to book a stadium-sized pay-per-view in the UK?