|
Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Feb 25, 2014 6:36:21 GMT -5
Welcome to the first WWE Network Discussion thread on the Classics Board You guys voted for SummerSlam 1988 as your PPV for this month, so here it is. Simply go away, watch SummerSlam 1988 on the WWE Network, and then come back here and post your thoughts. Hopefully we can get a good discussion going, aided by the fact everyone has watched it so recently. Its also worth posting your expectations/memories before you watch the PPV back, and then comparing your thoughts from before and after you watched it online. This will be the discussion thread until the end of March, and the next one will be WrestleMania themed to celebrate WM 30. Enjoy Here's the card: 1. The British Bulldogs vs. The Fabulous Rougeaus 2. Ken Patera vs. Bad News Brown 3. Rick Rude vs. Junkyard Dog 4. The Powers of Pain vs. The Bolsheviks Intercontinental Championship:5. Honkey Tonk Man (c) vs. Ultimate Warrior 6. Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo Tag Team Championship:7. Demolition (c) vs. The Hart Foundation 8. Big Boss Man vs. Koko B. Ware 9. Hercules vs. Jake Roberts. 10. The Mega Powers vs. The Mega Bucks
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2014 8:18:08 GMT -5
Ah Summerslam 1988.....you were a doozy. I have the benefit of having watched this only very recently so I will weigh in on my highlights for the PPV.
Demolition vs The Hart Foundation:
A powerful outing for both Champions & Challengers. Demolition were awesome heels(although were getting some great pops already) and The Harts were fresh as hell off their face turn. Plus this was a dream match of sorts.....Ex heel dominant Champs vs current hot dominant heel Champs. Some awesome exchanges and it was the right result.....didn't hurt the Harts at all.....but it MAY have derailed Demolitions momentum to have them lose.
Ultimate Warrior vs Honky:
shocking stuff at the time and as Honky says in his shoot "It had to go down this way" people were foaming at the mouth for him to be beat.....and seeing him beat this way? It just strapped a rocket to Hellwig's ass. Instant cementing of his status & power. This was of course Beefcakes spot but he was injured.....an occurrence that would come up again in 1990.
Powers Of Pain vs Bolsheveik's:
We all see what Vince was trying here.....when he tried to get The Road Warriors for the 2nd time in 88 and couldn't? He tried to put the POP in their spot to challenge his unstoppable heel champs in Demolition. However POP hadn't one tenth the charisma the Roadies had....and couldn't hope to fill an angle written for Hawk & Animal.
Mega Powers vs Mega Bucks:
absolutely awesome from bell to bell and Jesse NAILED it as guest ref.....this match had everything.....timing, pace, crisp action and most importantly drama.....and then the icing on the cake.....a full 6 months before he was gonna split them? Vince planted the first seed of their dissent with Savage jealously looking on at Liz celebrating with Hogan.
awesome sauce all round.
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 25, 2014 8:38:24 GMT -5
I haven't watched this since it aired when I was in high school. My memories were that the harts and demolition were pretty awesome and the main event was ok. I was so tired of Hogan by that point I was dying for Savage to clock him and seeing the beginning of that was nice. I never liked Macho much as a face.
|
|
|
Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Feb 25, 2014 9:23:04 GMT -5
Its interesting how dominant tag team wrestling was on this card. 4/10 matches were tags (including the main event), and arguably both the best and most important matches on the card were tags. Can you imagine that today? Can you even imagine that 10-15 years ago?
|
|
|
Post by ricflair4ever on Feb 25, 2014 11:20:22 GMT -5
This was an awesome card to start setting the tone of Summer Slam events. To me SummerSlam stayed a very strong Mania-esque event from 88-94. It kind of dropped off in 95/96 and picked back up in 97. But the debut edition remains a strong card today. The Bulldogs/Ray and Jacques match was a solid opener. I was surprised then, and still am in some ways, that Davey and Dynamite only had one go round as tag champs together. ....Powers of Pain were never going to be Road Warriors part 2. It couldn't work for several reasons, but in my view, it was because they worked better as heels. They were downright scary in NWA because they looked to actually be a threat to Hawk and Animal. Here in WWF, they seemed like a "light" version of their former Crockett era selves. Still impressive looking enough against Nikolai and Boris to be placed in the tag title hunt. Thankfully the needed tweaking for that would occur at Survivor Series...........Warrior vs Honky was and still is a perfect example of booking 101. Take a guy the fans have been waiting a year and a half to get beat. And squash him in a minute to establish the new guy after a parade of Superstars couldn't get it done previously. Spot on booking there.........Demolition vs Hart Foundation was excellent as well. Then 2 years later at this same event, these 2 teams deliver my favorite WWF tag title match of all time in the 2/3 falls match. ......As for the main event, I think I always found Jesse to be added element that made this match. Everyone came off looking good here. But I remember thinking there's no way Savage will put up with Hogan for long. I was only 10 at the time,but I thought if I was Savage and I'm the champ ......why would I share the spotlight with Hogan? Guess I was a born heel in my youth.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2014 11:29:46 GMT -5
'NUFF SAID!!!
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2014 11:35:20 GMT -5
The Bulldogs only had the one title reign for two reasons
1)Dynamites back was really badly effed up from 1987 onwards.
2)Dynamites attitude stank to high Heaven and he was seen as a troublemaker & dissenter backstage.
Its unfortunate but true.
|
|
|
Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Feb 25, 2014 12:30:55 GMT -5
'NUFF SAID!!! When I searched 'SummerSlam 1988' for the poster about 90% of the images were stills of this gif.
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 25, 2014 13:18:50 GMT -5
'NUFF SAID!!! When I searched 'SummerSlam 1988' for the poster about 90% of the images were stills of this gif. I might have worn out my VCR in high school due to that part. We didn't have that fancy Internet like you kids today.
|
|
|
Post by Brad on Feb 25, 2014 13:34:32 GMT -5
This is a fun show. Joker listed most of my favorites. I'd also add The British Bulldogs vs. The Fabulous Rougeaus. I really enjoy The Rougeaus. I'd go as far as to call them a favorite of mine from that time period.
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 25, 2014 13:54:38 GMT -5
Was going to watch part of it on my lunch break but the video won't load. That makes me sad. I wanted to get a nostalgia boner for Elizabeth.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 5:40:02 GMT -5
This is a fun show. Joker listed most of my favorites. I'd also add The British Bulldogs vs. The Fabulous Rougeaus. I really enjoy The Rougeaus. I'd go as far as to call them a favorite of mine from that time period. I really liked the RB's too man......they were definitely faves of mine. They had all the tools to be the top heel team...talented in the ring and man oh man.....did the fans hate them and THAT team tune. LOL.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 6:42:11 GMT -5
'NUFF SAID!!!
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 26, 2014 8:50:05 GMT -5
Will probably watch this in sections and discuss as I watch. It's fun because even though I have been watching for over 30 years, I haven't spent much time watching old footage, and relied mostly on my memories. It will be nice to re-live this and other events.
ooohhh I forgot about the "What the World is watching promo.
Nice. Twin Towers shot in the opening.
Is Billy Graham wearing a Rick James shirt? Nice.
Crowd is hyped. I miss fun crowds.
I haven't seen a Rougeau brothers match in forever but man they had awesome heat.
I never liked the Bulldogs bringing out Matilda. Just seemed silly to me.
As a kid I never really thought about how roided up the Bulldogs were.
Man I miss Gorilla Monsoon and commentators that called the match and action.
You can really see the influence that Dynamite had on Benoit.
Nice exciting and fast paced action for a tag match. I wish the WWE would remember this. Not only how fun tag matches can be, but that the pacing is very important to keep the crowd in it.
Rougeaus had great heel mannerisms and tactics. I have probably underestimated them for a long time.
Superstar sucks at commentary, but is still better than King & JBL right now.
I wish Dynamite wasn't such a jerk, because christ he was goooood.
I think a lot of people forget how mobile Davey Boy was before he got even more jacked.
We could use a lot more abdominal stretches these days.
Nice long match with great drama. They would never let a tag match go this long now.
Crowd erupted at the tag to Davey Boy that the ref didn't see.
Now popping for everything the Bulldogs do. Great energy.
Heh. Time limit draw. So underutilized now. Was a great way to keep momentum for both sides and draw out the feud.
Sadly the best tag match I have seen in a while.
Christ I forgot Ron Bass was around in the WWE.
Boy that Red X sure was effective at censoring that brutal attack on Beefcake.
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 26, 2014 12:54:10 GMT -5
Bad News Brown versus Ken Patera.
I never cared much for Patera's run or him much in general. I always thought he looked like a giant Richard Simmons.
Bad News Brown was always pretty solid to me. But I never thought he fit in well with the WWF style.
The crowd couldn't really care less. Not very good chemistry with these two.
Both of them are pretty sloppy so far.
Nice botch of the irish whip into the corner.
Always loved the Ghetto Blaster.
And the crowd goes wild. Just kidding. They went to go get a Tab.
Love the old school CGI background for the Mega Powers interview. Clear conscience? What the hell is Hogan talking about. Elizabeth is the secret weapon. Result of that would have been a lot more interesting in 1997.
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 26, 2014 14:04:28 GMT -5
Rick Rude vs. JYD
JYD was always crazy over with the fans.
I always loved Rude. Great heel. Love the Pearl Harbor job to start off.
Sad both of these guys are no longer with us.
JYD on his crotch is disturbing.
Love the way JYD sells the double axehandle.
Notice these days how wrestling finally abandoned the "all black people have hard heads" gimmick.
All Superstar does is agree with everything Gorilla says and repeat it.
Ha. I forgot about the tights with Roberts wife on them. Crowd popped like crazy with the Jake run in.
Man Honkey Tonk Man was so dialed in as a heel. That gimmick should never have worked. Love the overconfidence in the interview.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 22:14:25 GMT -5
I had forgotten about JYD vs Rude......gonna give that a watch
|
|
|
Post by T R W on Feb 27, 2014 8:04:17 GMT -5
I had forgotten about JYD vs Rude......gonna give that a watch It is a fun, and short match.
|
|
|
Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Feb 27, 2014 18:22:25 GMT -5
I had forgotten about JYD vs Rude......gonna give that a watch It is a fun, and short match. Didn't JYD get fired not too long after this match too?? Cause I know he ended up in the NWA, and I think it was the late part of '88 he ended up there.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Jun 2, 2024 1:34:54 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2014 20:08:45 GMT -5
yeah JYD went to the NWA soon after......I love JYDs earlier stuff from Watts Mid South.
|
|