From the Bowery: SummerSlam 88

From the Bowery: SummerSlam 88
-August 29, 1988
-Madison Square Garden, NY, NY

-I figured I might as well plow may way through the SummerSlam shows. The thing is I own all of them on DVD (or converted VHS to DVD) except for 93, 94, 95, and 07. Thankfully, I should have those shows before getting that far.

Announce Team :Gorilla Monsoon and “Superstar” Billy Graham

The British Bulldogs (w/ Matilda) vs. The Fabulous Rougeaus

-One thing that is clear to start is that this show is going to have a white hot crowd. The FR wants to shake hands before the match, but the Bulldogs are having no part of that. Smith pounds away on Jacques and rams him into the buckle much to the delight of the crowd. Jacques scurries to his concern and gets a hug from Raymond to comfort him. The tag is made to Raymond and he gets an opening with the ref tries to pull Davey Boy out of the corner. Raymond whips DB to the corner and brings him out with a monkey flip, but Smith lands on his feet. The tag is made to Dynamite and he dominates Raymond in rather impressive fashion. He attacks the arm and focuses on that with an arm wringer. He makes the tag to Davey Boy and he comes off the top rope with a forearm to the exposed arm of Raymond. A sunset flip nets a two count, and a quick tag is made back to Dynamite. He goes right back to work on the arm, and breaks to deliver a nice clothesline. Another quick tag to Davey Boy, and he gets caught with a sunset flip, but reverses to a roll-up for two. The tag gets made back to Dynamite and he goes right back to the armbar. Again the tag is made to Davey Boy and the Bulldogs hit a double shoulder tackle for two. Raymond drops down on an Irish whip and that gives Jacques the opportunity to trip Davey Boy from the outside. The tag is made to Jacques and he goes to work on the knee with a Deathlock. The Rougeaus make frequent tags now and continue attacking the damaged left knee. The Rougeaus use every awesome heel tag team trick known to man and the crowd is pissed. I love it! Raymond hooks a spinning toe hold, but gets caught with a small package for two. He has nothing left in the tank to capitalize though and Raymond comes in to do more damage to the knee. Davey Boy limps to a standing base and delivers a monkey flip and that gives him enough separation to make the tag to Dynamite. The crowd pops with the hot tag and Dynamite fires off a snap suplex and falling headbutt for two. A belly to back suplex gets a two count as Raymond is close enough to get his foot on the bottom rope. The Rougeaus regroup on the floor, but Dynamite remains in control when the action gets back in the ring. The tag is made to Davey Boy and he hits the running powerslam, but Jacques breaks the pin attempt. Dynamite gets the tag and looks to pound away from the second rope, but Jacques enters and brings him down with a belly to back suplex. That gives Raymond a chance to make a tag, and now Dynamite is your canine in peril. The Rougeaus use some sweet double team moves before Jacques hooks in an abdominal stretch and that gives Monsoon a chance to flip out about the leg not being hooked. Davey Boy has seen enough and rushes in to break the hold, but as the ref puts him out, Raymond simply trades places with Jacques and reapplies the hold. Dynamite breaks with a hiptoss, but gets caught in the midsection before he can make the tag. A tag is made to Jacques and he hits a leaping splash for two. A chinlock gets applied, but Dynamite fights to his feet and has Jacques in electric chair position, but Raymond enters illegally to keep Dynamite from breaking the hold completely. Raymond tags in and applies the same hold, and again, Dynamite powers to his feet and breaks by ramming Raymond into the turnbuckle. Davey Boy tries to enter and that only distracts the ref from seeing that Dynamite had Jacques in a small package for at least 5 seconds. The ref finally sees, but it only gets a count of two. Raymond locks in a front facelock, and Dynamite powers to his corner, but the ref misses the tag while dealing with Jacques. Finally Dynamite breaks and delivers some chops before making the tag. He looks to explode with a dropkick, but Jacques hooks the top rope to avoid the move. Davey Boy reverses an Irish whip and gets the press slam, but drops Jacques crotch first on the rope instead of slamming him to the mat. The Bulldogs look to finish as Davey Boy press slams Dynamite into a headbutt on Jacques, but the bell rings before a pin can be counted. Howard Finkel informs us the 20 minute time limit has expired. The Bulldogs wants more time, but the Rougeaus sucker punch them and high tail it to the locker room.

Time Limit Draw at 20:00
-I heard good things about this match, and while good, it’s not the match I was expecting. You could see the Rougeaus were doing all they could to stall towards the draw and it kind of hurt the match. Sure it garnered some sympathy for the Bulldogs, but it just kind of dragged at times even with the crowd staying with them throughout. **1/2

-Monsoon informs us Beefcake is not able to face the Honky Tonk Man for the IC Title. We get footage from Superstars of Ron Bass attacking Beefcake and cutting his face open with a spur from his boot. A huge red X with censored blocks the screen as to protect us from the blood. Boy I remember that moment just like it was yesterday.

Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera

-Patera was a legit international weightlifting competitor in the 60s and competed in the 1st World’s Strongest Man Competition. He was trained by Verne Gagne and was in the same class with Ric Flair. Bad News attacks before the bell and pounds away before Patera even has a chance to take of his jacket. Bad News hits a slam, but a charge in the corner meets a clothesline from Patera. He stomps away on Brown and hits a back elbow. He continues to stomp away as Graham drools over the size of Patera’s thighs. Awkward! Brown regains the advantage and continues to do what he knows best: punching the shit out of Ken. He gets tired of punching and opts to choke the life out of Patera. Bad News sets too early on backdrop and gets punted in the chest for his troubles. Patera hits another clothesline and drops an elbow for two (without hooking much to the horror of Gorilla). A bear hug follows, but a thumb to the eye from Bad News breaks. Patera is still in control though as he looks for the Full Nelson, but Brown gets to the ropes quickly. He looks for the hold again, but once again, Brown gets to the ropes. Now Patera sets too early on a backdrop and gets clubbed behind the head. A few smarks in the crowd actually get a very small boring chant started. Patera charges in the corner, but Brown moves and that Ken hits the post with his shoulder. Brown catches a staggering Patera with the Ghetto Blaster at 6:33 for the pin.

Winner: Bad New Brown via pin at 6:33
-See, while this was a little more boring than the first match at least it was short and had a decent finish. Patera was well past his prime and would be out of the WWF soon after this show. Brown probably would have fit in better during the WWF’s Attitude Days than Hogan’s cartoon era. *1/2

Ravishing Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Junkyard Dog

-Rude’s insult this evening: fat, inner city, sweat hogs. Nice! Rude also has JYD on his tights which I always found odd as a kid. Seriously, why would you want another guy’s face printed across your crotch? Rude tries to get the early jump, but JYD hits a back drop and then delivers multiple headbutts while on all fours. Rude bails to the floor and Heenan gives his some sage advice I would assume. Back inside the ring and Rude finally gets the advantage. He drops a double axe from the top rope, but then makes the mistake of targeting JYD’s head. Smartly Rude goes to the eyes to stop JYD and then applies a chinlock. While we have time to kill, I always wondered why we never got a Rude/Savage feud. Imagine the awesomeness of the promo build if Rude started hitting on Liz and put her picture on his tights. Sure we got something along those lines with the Flair/Savage feud, but it seemed like Rude was a good fit for someone like Savage. JYD powers back to his feet and backs Rude into the corner. He delivers a headbutt, but JYD makes the mistake of going after Heenan. That gives Rude a chance to hit a side Russian legsweep and then he heads up top. He pulls his tights down revealing another pair with Cheryl Robert’s face on them, and that draws out Jake “the Snake” Roberts for the DQ at 6:18. Roberts apologizes to JYD for costing him the match.

Winner: “Ravishing” Rick Rude via DQ at 6:18
-A Garbage match with a garbage ending. 1/2*

-Gene interviews Jimmy Hart and the Honky Tonk Man. He promises to defend the title and says he will take anyone the WWF wants to throw at him. HTM cuts Gene off from mentioning who the challenger is because he wants himself and everyone else at home to be surprised. Yeah, that’s not going to backfire at all.

The Bolsheviks (w/ Slick) vs. The Powers of Pain (w/ The Baron)

-The Powers of Pain were actually faces here as this was at the start of their WWF run. The story goes that Strike Force hired the POP as mercenaries to get revenge on Demolition. They ended up pulling a double switch at Survivor Series later in the year with Fuji joining the Powers of Pain to turn them heel and turn Demolition into faces out of sympathy. For those wondering yes, the Baron here is Baron Von Raschke, but his run with the WWF as a manager was short lived. Big brawl to start and the Bolsheviks end up getting whipped into each other. The Barbarian gets tripped by Nikolai, but Barbarian no sells. Boris eats a double clothesline, and soon after the Warlord applies the full nelson on Nikolai. This is seriously disjointed as the Bolsheviks hit the floor to regroup. Things settle back in the ring with Boris and the Barbarian. A clothesline gets a pin attempt for the Barbarian, but Nikolai breaks. Zhukov sets earlier that any man I have ever seen on a backdrop, and pays for it. I mean seriously, the Barbarian had yet to even finish getting whipped in the buckle and Zhukov was already bent over for the move. The Russians take control and double the Warlord over in their corner including using the tag rope to choke. That has always been one of my favorite spots for a heel team. Gorilla mentions everything has been used but the kitchen sink, and the first thing that pops in my head is the Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania 13. Warlord continues to get dominated by the Russians, but he finally gets some life after stopping a double backdrop attempt. The hot tag is made to the Barbarian, and he is the proverbial house of fire. Zhukov gets isolated and hit with a double flying tackle. Warlord hits the powerslam, and the Barbarian comes off the top with the flying headbutt to finish at 5:27. That actually gets a decent pop, and it just seems weird to hear the crowd rally behind the Powers of Pain.

Winners: The Powers of Pain via Barbarian pin on Zhukov at 5:27
-Thankfully this was kept short and energetic. No rest holds make me a happy camper as they went for a power match. To me this was perfectly acceptable, and while not great by any stretch, I had no problem with it. **

-Brother Love gets a special edition of his show and his guest is “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. They build the feud with Bravo, and Love questions why Duggan has to carry a weapon. Duggan threatens Love and gives him to the count of 5 to get out of the ring. The crowd counts along and at 5 Duggan tries to take Love’s head off with the 2×4, but he runs back up the aisle. Well that was pointless.

Intercontinental Championship: The Honky Tonk Man © (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Ultimate Warrior

– Finkel does a great job selling the fact that even he doesn’t know who will be challenging. Honk Tonk Man hits the ring first and gloats: “Get me someone out here to wrestle, I don’t care who it is.” Big Fucking Mistake! The music hits and the crowd goes bat shit crazy. Warrior goes nuts and hammers away on the HTM. He hits a flying shoulder tackle, and finishes quickly with the big splash @ 31 seconds. The reaction from the crowd is something to behold as Honky finally gets what’s coming to him after 2 years.

Winner and New Intercontinental Champion: The Ultimate Warrior by pin via big splash @ 0:31
-Quite possibly the Greatest Squash in Pro-Wrestling History. It paid off the IC Run of the Honky Tonk Man, and kick started the Warrior’s push up the card. SQUASH (***** SQUASH though)

-This must have been when the crowd got their intermission as they show the opening again and we head back up to Monsoon and Graham in the broadcast booth. Heenan interrupts and mentions the Mega Powers are hiding in the back scared to death.

Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo (w/ Frenchy Martin)

-This would be a rematch of a contest between these two at WrestleMania IV in the WWF Title Tournament. Graham was mentoring and managing Muraco at the time of the first match and is clearly rooting for Muraco on commentary here. Heenan joins the announce team and immediately shows how awesome he is. Muraco controls early with a hiptoss and gets a body slam. Like a good heel, Bravo bails to the floor and that pisses off the crowd. Heenan makes sure to mention that wrestling is more than just the physical game, and Bravo is showing that now. Bravo tries to get some traction back in the ring, but Muraco continues to dominate and gets another hiptoss. Muraco attacks the arm and hooks in an armbar. Bravo fights to his feet, but gets whipped into the corner where Muraco buries a few shoulders. The tide finally changes and Bravo hits an inverted atomic drop. He drops an elbow, but it doesn’t even but him a one count. Damn! I would actually like to see more of that in today’s wrestling. Bravo misses an elbow and that gives Muraco a chance to fire back with some punches. He sends Bravo flying with a backdrop and even takes time to land a right hand to Frenchy. The ref gets accidentally kicked as Muraco tries for another slam. That gives Bravo a chance to slide off and get the side suplex for the pin at 5:28.

Winner: Dino Bravo via pin at 5:28
-This match is immediately better than the WM IV match because it had a relatively clean finish. It also played off the WM IV finish where Bravo pulled the ref in the way and got disqualified for it. This time, the ref gets in the way and gives an accidental assist to Bravo. Again, this was nothing great, but at least short and energetic enough to keep me from pulling my hair out from boredom. *1/4

-Jesse Ventura (the special ref for the Main Event) defends his actions of accepting the money Dibiase slipped in his jacket. If someone wants to slip him some money, who is he to say no. Good point!

WWF Tag Titles: Demolition © (w/ Mr. Fuji and Jimmy Hart) vs. The Hart Foundation

-Jimmy Hart and the Harts finally separated and that made the Foundation the faces. Jimmy is in the corner of the tag champs here just to stick it to his former team. Bret starts with Ax, and it goes badly for Bret as he gets pounded into the ground. Bret finally uses his speed and after a few shots gets a reverse roll-up for a two count. Smash gets the tag and runs into a few arm drags, and Bret opts to tag in the Anvil. He dominates Smash, and starts to go to work on the arm and shoulder. He knocks Smash off his feet with a shoulder block, but a well placed boot from Ax on the apron turns the tide for the heels. Monsoon mentions that Jimmy Hart still has the contract of the Hart Foundation. I miss wrestling managers. Anvil gets trapped in the heel corner for a few minutes, but makes the tag to Bret pretty easily. Bret fires off a few dropkicks, but he ends up going shoulder first into the post off a blind charge. Now Bret is your Canadian in peril as Demolition tries to detach his arm from his body. The champs make frequent tags and continue to target the injured arm. Ax hooks a standing armbar, and uses his foot apply more pressure on the shoulder joint. Nice! Bret gets kicked to the floor and Smash sends him shoulder first into the steel post. Monsoon bitches out the Anvil for not helping his partner while he is on the floor. Back inside the ring Bret ducks a clothesline and hits one of his own (with the injured arm, though Superstar tries to cover for him), and the tag is made to the ref. The only problem is the ref didn’t see it. Smash sends Bret shoulder first into the buckle, but he makes the mistake of charging in and gets caught with a double boot from Bret. The hot tag is finally made and the Anvil goes crazy with body slams on both members of Demolition. Bret enters and slingshots Neidhart over the top, to the floor and he lands on Smash. Back inside the ring, the Anvil hits a powerslam for a hot near fall. The Foundation run through some of their double team moves, but still not enough to put Smash away. All four men start brawling in the ring and Fuji ends up eating some rights from Neidhart. That proves to be enough of a distraction though as Hart tosses in the megaphone and Ax clobbers Bret from behind. Smash has no trouble getting the pin at 9:49.

Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: Demolition via Smash pinning Bret at 9:49
-This was half the time of the opening match, but was so much better in my opinion. Good chemistry from these two teams, and this would not be the last time they would meet at SummerSlam. I also have no problem with the ending because it continues the Hart Foundation/Hart feud and Demolition can afford to win in that manner since they are heels. ***1/4

-The Honky Tonk Man throws a fit in the locker room and vows to get his title back.

The Big Boss Man (w/ Slick) vs. Koko B. Ware

-Slick distracts Koko at the opening bell and that gives the Boss Man a chance to get the early advantage. Koko ducks a clothesline and hits his patented drop kick. That sends the Boss Man into the ropes where he gets caught much like Andre the Giant used to. Koko pounds away and hits a headbutt, before the Boss Man gets free of the ropes. That’s the worst thing that could have happened for Koko as the Boss Man mauls him in the corner. He delivers a clubbing blow to the back and a corner whip is followed by a big splash. The Boss Man starts working on the backs and ribs by dropping some knees. An Irish whip is followed by a clothesline, but Boss Man doesn’t want the win as he pulls Koko up at two. Koko tries to fight back, but get s draped over the middle rope and the Boss Man crashes on his back. After a body slam, the Boss Man heads to the top rope, but the splash misses. Another splash attempt in the corner is avoided by Koko, and he starts boxing. He heads to the top and hits a missile drop kick. A standing splash get a two count, but the Boss Man is out easily. Koko makes the mistake of charging and gets caught and dumped over the top rope. The Boss Man Slam finishes things rather easily at 5:57. The Boss Man abuses Koko with the night stick after the match.

Winner: The Big Boss Man via pin at 5:57
-This was fine, as it put the Boss Man over strong, and as a threat. Koko got in a brief hope spot, but not enough to make the Boss Man look in danger of losing. **

-The Ultimate Warrior gives his 1st crazy rant as Intercontinental Champion.

Hercules vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts (w/ Damian)

-Monsoon and Graham wonder why Heenan isn’t down there with Hercules. Graham virtually drools over the physique of Hercules. Jake tries for the DDT early, but Hercules counters by bailing to the floor. Back inside the ring a clothesline is ducked and Jake gets a slam. He applies a headlock, and Hercules tries to break with a belly to back suplex, but Jake is able to hang on to the hold. The hold is finally released and things just kind of grind to a halt. Hercules gains control and starts dropping elbows before slowing the pace again with a reverse chinlock. We get a break from the chinlock as Jake gets to his feet, but that leaves him wide open to a clothesline for two. Sadly, Hercules goes right back to the reverse chinlock and Monsoon makes sure to mention that nobody has ever beaten someone with a reverse chinlock. If Heenan was on commentary he would be telling Monsoon of the time he made a man submit during pre-match instructions. Jake gets caught on the apron and after taking some blows he pulls Hercules over the top and to the floor. Jake makes the mistake (woo, rhyming) of trying to reach over the ropes to grab Hercules, and it bites him in the ass when Hercules casually clothesline him with the top rope. Hercules goes back to the reverse chinlock, but Jake counters with a jawbreaker. Jake goes through his pre DDT offense, but Hercules counters with a backdrop. Jake looks for the knee lift, but Hercules simply shoves him out of the way. He goes back to dropping some elbows and that gets him another two count. He argues with the ref giving Jake a chance to recover. That’s all he needed as he escapes a slam attempt and hits the DDT for the pin at 10:06. Hercules gets the Damian treatment after the match.

Winner: Jake “The Snake” Roberts via pin at 10:06
-They really could have cut this down a few minutes or filled this thing with more than just a reverse chinlock. The opening few minutes and the closing sequence were ok, but that middle just sucked the life out of the crowd. *1/2

-The events leading up to the Main Event are covered. Basically, Dibiase is still pissed about losing the finals of the WWF Tournament at WrestleMania IV. Savage got tired of being abused by Andre and Dibiase so he challenged them to a tag match and promised he would have a partner. Heenan accepts on the behalf of his team, and it is announced then that Jesse “The Body” Ventura will be the special guest referee. Savage names Hogan as his partner a week later, and thus we have a Main Event. The build became whether or not Jesse could be bought off by Dibiase or threatened by Andre to skew things towards the Mega Bucks.

The Mega Powers (w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. The Mega Bucks (w/ Bobby Heenan and Virgil)

-For those wondering Dibiase is making his summer residence in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. For some reason Ventura moves the position of the tag ropes, and gets in Hogan’s face about it. Hogan and Savage discuss who is going to start, and Hogan agrees to Savage’s request. Sadly for Savage he soon finds out that he is starting things with Andre. In a smart move Andre quickly gets the advantage and makes the tag to Dibiase to picks the scraps. Dibiase lets Savage up though and calls on Hogan to get in the ring. Dibiase gets caught with an atomic drop and then gets pinballed between Hogan and Dibiase. The Mega Powers deliver a double chop and then a double elbow before Jesse chases Hogan out of the ring. The tag is made back to Hogan and he rams Dibiase into the buckle twice and then into Savage’s boot before making the tag. Savage heads up top and hits a double axe, and the tag is made back to Hogan. Dibiase eats a double boot from the Mega Powers, and that’s gets two. Hogan drops dome elbows and then fucks up by going after Andre on the apron. Andre simply headbutts him, and then delivers one to Savage as well. Ventura tries to get control of the situation, and Dibiase finally tags out to Andre. He beats the piss out of Hogan and locks in nerve hold that brings the Immortal one to his knees. He switches to a more conventional nerve hold, and while this is no more exciting that Hercules’ chinlock, the crowd is alive and thus it seems better. Dibiase tags back in, and shockingly it seems Hogan is going to be your face in peril. Dibiase hooks in a reverse chinlock, and Monsoon and Graham bitch that it is a choke. Ever the awesome heel, Dibiase even manages to grab whatever hair he can find on Hogan’s head to maintain the hold. Ventura checks the arm, but the crowd starts brining Hogan back to life and he is able to break the hold. A double clothesline leaves both men down, and now it’s a race to make a tag. Hogan wins the race, and Savage goes bat shit crazy on Dibiase with a clothesline and backdrop. He hangs Dibiase throat first on the top rope and hits the double ax from up top. Savage ducks a clothesline and gets a crossbody for two. Savage charges again, but Dibiase is waiting with a clothesline this time, and he makes the tag to Andre. The collective groan from the crowd as the tag was made is quite awesome. Even though know Savage is royally screwed. As expected Andre unleashes hell on Savage for just a few moments before making the tag back to Dibiase. Now Dibiase is in control, and gets a two count off a suplex. A backbreaker follows, and he tries the back elbow from the middle rope, but Savage rolls out of the way. The hot tag is made to Hogan and the crowd goes nuts as he unloads on Dibiase. Hogan hits a suplex, and that brings Andre into the match where he gets caught with a right hand. Hogan hooks Dibiase in a sleeper and at the same time Savage gets caught with a boot from Andre. He headbutts Hogan from behind and Liz decides to start walking on the apron. The Mega Powers are on the floor regrouping as the heels watch Liz take off her skirt revealing some panties. That proves to be more than enough to distract the heels, the ref, and the crowd to let Savage come off the top with a double axe that puts Andre on the floor. That leaves Dibiase alone with the Mega Powers and he ends up taking the flying elbow from Savage and the leg drop from Hogan. Ventura counts two, and Savage has to force him to make the final count at 13:57. After the match Hogan picks up and celebrates with Liz drawing a less than thrilled look from Savage, but hey, they won the match, so it’s cool. I’m sure that won’t hinder this everlasting friendship.

Winners: The Mega Powers via Hogan pin on Dibiase at 13:57
-Not a great match, but the ending is remembered well, and the crowd enjoyed every second of the match. It seemed a little short considering it was the Main Event, and Savage could have taken a better shit kicking before making the hot tag. Still, at was at least fun compared to what else was on this card. **1/2

The 411: Not a very good show outside of a some decent tag matches, and the 2 memorable moments mentioned in the teaser. Historically this is an important show since it was the first SummerSlam. Just don't expect anything great in terms of in ring work.
Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]