10 Wrestling Secrets Everyone Knows Except You
9. Stop Getting Old WWE Pay-Per-Views Wrong
The more the years pass, the more that classic WWE pay-per-view cards appear on the surface to not make much sense to newer or younger viewers. Especially if they're watched chronologically via the Network/Peacock archives with all the wrap-around television featuring big angles and segments featuring top stars.
Context is everything, and much of that has been missed over the years, particularly from those reviewing the events retrospectively. SummerSlam 1988 might be just as long as one of its modern equivalents, but that's about the only criteria in which a show from nearly 35 years ago can be judged against one today. WrestleMania VI's beautiful stadium aesthetic and epic main event mirrors much of WWE's presentation of the 'Show Of Shows' in 2022, but there's a good reason why the bulk of the 14 main card matches don't have stories going in.
Vince McMahon's product doesn't look like it's changed too much over the last 20 years, but the landscape of the industry certainly shifted when he got his claws into it twice that time ago. Pay-per-views - pretty much until the Monday Night Wars and the 90s boom - existed as an exhibition of all the organisation had to offer as the destination of professional wrestling. One or two matches served as payoffs, but lots of those were fought around the horn so you'd buy tickets or watch television.
The resulted in supercards being overstuffed with exhibition outings, but a chance to catch All Your Favourite WWF Superstars™ (and in competitive action, nonetheless) was, at the time, enough.