SummerSlam (1988)

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SummerSlam
WWF - SummerSlam (1988).jpg
Promotional poster featuring The Mega Powers, The Mega Bucks, and Jesse Ventura
Promotion World Wrestling Federation
DateAugust 29, 1988
City New York City, New York
Venue Madison Square Garden
Attendance20,000 [1]
Tagline(s)Where the Mega Powers Meet the Mega Bucks
Pay-per-view chronology
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1989

The 1988 SummerSlam (marketed as SummerSlam '88) was the inaugural SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on August 29, 1988, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The pay-per-view was created to help the company compete against rival promotion Jim Crockett Promotions. It was one of the first four annual pay-per-view events produced by the WWF, along with WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, which were eventually dubbed the "big four".

Contents

The event consisted of 10 professional wrestling matches. The preliminary matches included a title defense by Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man against a surprise challenger, revealed to be The Ultimate Warrior. The Ultimate Warrior won the match in just 31 seconds to end Honky Tonk's 14-month title reign, at the time, the longest Intercontinental Championship reign in history. The main event was a match pitting The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage), against their long-time rivals, The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant). Hogan and Savage won the match after Miss Elizabeth, Savage's manager, distracted André and DiBiase, by removing her skirt to reveal her panties.

Production

Background

The inaugural SummerSlam was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Madison Square Garden (MSG) - Full (48124330357).jpg
The inaugural SummerSlam was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

In the late 1980s, the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions. WWF Chairman Vince McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade pay-per-view (PPV), which began airing in 1983, by creating WrestleMania. After WrestleMania III in March 1987, the most successful professional wrestling pay-per-view event in history, McMahon created Survivor Series, which aired the same day as Starrcade in November 1987. After defeating Crockett in the ratings war, McMahon created the Royal Rumble, an event airing for free on the USA Network in January 1988, on the same night as the Crockett-produced PPV, Bunkhouse Stampede. The event set a ratings record for the network with eight million households tuning in to watch the event. In retaliation, Crockett created the Clash of the Champions I event, which aired simultaneously with WrestleMania IV. WrestleMania IV garnered higher ratings, and not long after, Crockett filed for bankruptcy and sold his company to Ted Turner, who rebranded it as World Championship Wrestling (WCW). [2]

As the WWF continued to replace its closed-circuit programming with pay-per-view programming, McMahon added more pay-per-views to the lineup to capitalize on the success of his previous events. In addition to WrestleMania in March, Royal Rumble in January, and Survivor Series in November, McMahon created an event for August, which he named SummerSlam. It was scheduled to be held on August 29, 1988, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. To keep the WWF from having a pay-per-view market monopoly, Turner began airing monthly WCW pay-per-views. As a result, both companies brought in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. [3]

Storylines

Before SummerSlam, The Honky Tonk Man had been the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWF history. [4] He was originally supposed to defend his championship against Brutus Beefcake, but Beefcake was unable to compete, as a result of a (storyline) injury received from "Outlaw" Ron Bass the week before. [5]

Also before the event, Demolition (Ax and Smash) held the WWF World Tag Team Championship, which they had won at WrestleMania IV after only a year in the WWF; [6] and they would defend their titles at SummerSlam against former champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), who had become fan favorites a few weeks earlier by turning on their manager Jimmy Hart.

The on-screen feud between Rick Rude and Jake Roberts began weeks before SummerSlam. As part of his gimmick, Rude would—after winning a match—invite a pre-selected woman from the audience to kiss him in the ring. On one occasion, one of the women refused to comply, later identifying herself as Roberts' wife, Cheryl. [7] [8] As the feud intensified, Rude began wearing a pair of tights with a picture of Cheryl stenciled on them, prompting a furious Roberts to charge into the ring and strip the tights off Rude, appearing to television viewers to leave Rude naked, [9] although the live audience saw him stripped to a G-string instead.

For months before the pay-per-view, Hulk Hogan and undisputed WWF Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage, two of the WWF's top crowd favorites, had feuded with André the Giant and Ted DiBiase, respectively. The two feuds first came together at WrestleMania IV, when—as the result of the vacating of the WWF Heavyweight Championship—a 14-man single-elimination tournament was set up to crown a new champion. Hogan and André had been disqualified in their quarterfinal match, [10] while Savage and DiBiase reached the championship match; in that final match, Savage defeated DiBiase with help from Hogan. [11] Savage and DiBiase feuded over the title throughout the spring and summer, but André did not become involved until mid-summer, when he and DiBiase helped instigate a 2-on-1 attack against Savage as he was delivering a promo. Savage quickly recovered and challenged André and DiBiase to a tag team match against him and a partner to be named. That partner was later revealed to be Hogan; the team became known as "The Mega Powers." [12] [13] The André-DiBiase team—which dubbed itself "The Mega Bucks"—retaliated by announcing the guest referee would be someone they declared to be fair and neutral: Jesse Ventura, a color commentator on the WWF's programs who favored the villains, though according to the main storyline, Ventura was chosen by WWF President Jack Tunney as the only person capable of handling such a match.

Event

Other on-screen personnel
Role:Name:
Commentator Gorilla Monsoon
Superstar Billy Graham
Bobby Heenan (Dino Bravo vs Don Muraco)
Interviewer Gene Okerlund
Sean Mooney
Ring announcer Howard Finkel
Referee Dave Hebner
Joey Marella
Tim White
Jesse "The Body" Ventura (Main Event)

The event began with a match between The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid), and The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond Rougeau). As soon as the bell rang to signify that the match had begun, Smith attacked Jacques. The two teams traded blows until The Rougeaus flipped Dynamite Kid over their heads so that he fell on his back to the mat. Dynamite Kid escaped another offensive maneuver before tagging in his partner, Smith, and The British Bulldogs performed a double-team maneuver on Jacques. Despite having the upper hand, The Bulldogs failed to pin Jacques in time, and the match ended in a twenty-minute time limit draw.

The next match was between Bad News Brown and Ken Patera. Before the bell rang, however, Brown attacked Patera, who retaliated by performing a clothesline from the corner. Patera then slipped both of his arms underneath Brown's armpits and locked his hands behind his neck, using a submission move known as a full nelson. At the end of the match, Brown defeated Patera by striking him in the back of the head with his finishing move, the Ghetto Blaster. [14]

After the second match ended, Rick Rude and the Junkyard Dog made their way to the ring. Their match began as Rude attacked Junkyard Dog from behind, who retaliated by headbutting Rude several times. Subsequently, Rude climbed to the wrestling ring's top rope and pulled down his tights to reveal another pair of tights with a picture of Cheryl Roberts on them. As a result, Jake Roberts, Cheryl Roberts' husband, ran to the ring and attacked Rude, forcing the referee to disqualify the Junkyard Dog.

The next match was a tag team match between The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord), who were accompanied by their manager The Baron, and The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff), who were accompanied by Slick. Immediately, The Powers of Pain chased The Bolsheviks from the ring. Slick, however, distracted The Powers of Pain long enough to give The Bolsheviks an advantage. Zhukov was then slammed to the mat back-first and headbutted from the top rope, which allowed The Barbarian to pin him. [14] [4]

The fifth match of the event was an Intercontinental Championship match between The Ultimate Warrior and the reigning champion, The Honky Tonk Man, who was accompanied by Jimmy Hart. Before the match, it had been announced that Honky's original challenger, Brutus Beefcake, was unable to wrestle due to being attacked the previous week on an episode of Superstars of Wrestling by Outlaw Ron Bass, who had raked his cowboy spurs repeatedly across Beefcake's forehead (television and even the PPV only showed the censored version of the attack). Before the match, the Honky Tonk Man refused to be informed about Beefcake's replacement, [5] and immediately before the match, even grabbed ring announcer Howard Finkel's microphone and said: "Give me someone out here to wrestle, I don't care who it is". His challenge was answered by The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior, who accidentally knocked Finkel to the floor when he rushed into the ring and hit the ropes, had the advantage from the beginning, attacking The Honky Tonk Man, who was still in his entrance attire. After body-slamming him to the mat and following it up with a clothesline, The Warrior bounded to the ropes and landed stomach-first on The Honky Tonk Man using his signature move, the Warrior Splash. The Ultimate Warrior then pinned The Honky Tonk Man after only thirty-one seconds to win the title. The longest Intercontinental title reign in WWF history had ended with one of the shortest IC title matches in history. [5] Honky's reign would be the longest Intercontinental Championship reign in WWE history until Gunther broke the record in September 2023.

The following contest was a re-match from WrestleMania IV between Dino Bravo and "The Rock" Don Muraco. Muraco, the crowd favorite, was in control for most of the match until Bravo's manager, Frenchy Martin distracted Muraco, allowing Bravo to use his side suplex and pin him for the win. The Rock had gone into the match without his manager Superstar Billy Graham, who could only look on helplessly from his position in the commentary booth alongside Gorilla Monsoon at the illegal antics of Bravo and Martin. [4]

The seventh match of the night was for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Reigning champions Demolition (Ax and Smash), accompanied by both Mr. Fuji and Jimmy Hart, were challenged by The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart). As soon as the bell sounded, The Hart Foundation attacked both members of Demolition. Their control was brief, as Demolition then gained the advantage over Neidhart. As Bret Hart was tagged into the match, Demolition got the advantage over him when he was whipped shoulder-first into the turnbuckle, breaking Mr. Fuji's cane that he had placed there when the referee wasn't looking. After a few minutes of Demolition working over Hart's shoulder, a frustrated Neidhart chased Jimmy Hart from ringside and returned to tag back into the match. When all four men began fighting inside the ring, Neidhart attacked Mr. Fuji, who was on the ring apron. At the end of the match, Bret Hart attempted a piledriver, but Ax hit him with a megaphone given to him by Jimmy Hart sneaking back to the ring. Smash then pinned Bret Hart for the win. [4]

Miss Elizabeth celebrated the Mega Powers' win, after removing her skirt to show her panties to distract the Mega Bucks. Miss elizabeth2.JPG
Miss Elizabeth celebrated the Mega Powers' win, after removing her skirt to show her panties to distract the Mega Bucks.

The next match was between the Big Boss Man, accompanied by Slick, and "The Bird Man" Koko B. Ware. With Slick as a distraction, the Big Boss Man took the early advantage in the match. After crushing Koko in between himself and the turnbuckle with a jumping Avalanche, Boss Man refused to pin him and finish the match. Instead, he attempted to climb to the top rope and land on Koko stomach-first but missed. The Bird Man then retaliated by performing several dropkicks and attempted a pin. Boss Man got his shoulder up to save himself from being pinned, and he slammed his opponent into the mat, allowing him to pin Koko for the win.

The second to last match of the night was between Jake Roberts and Hercules. When Roberts attempted to slam his opponent's head onto the mat with a DDT, Hercules was able to escape the maneuver and take control of the match. As Hercules attempted to slam Roberts to the mat, Roberts reversed the move into a DDT, enabling him to pin Hercules for the win. [4]

The last match of the night was the main event between The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage), accompanied by Miss Elizabeth, and The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant), accompanied by André's manager, Bobby Heenan and DiBiase's bodyguard, Virgil. [11] Jesse Ventura was the special guest referee. [13] The Mega Powers took the early advantage over DiBiase. After Hogan attacked André the Giant, who was on the ring apron, The Mega Bucks were able to regain control. [15] After a while, all four men began brawling, and André knocked The Mega Powers out of the ring. Subsequently, as part of the scripted ending to the match, Miss Elizabeth began arguing with Ventura, the referee and ripped off her skirt to reveal a one-piece swimsuit. [11] [13] While the Mega Bucks were distracted, Savage climbed to the top rope and dropped the Macho Elbow on DiBiase, followed by Hogan hitting the leg drop on DiBiase. As Hogan pinned DiBiase, Ventura, a villainous character aligned with The Mega Bucks (despite being a long-time on-air Savage fan and his former tag-team partner), began a slow three-count. As a result, Savage slammed Ventura's arm down for the third time, indicating that Hogan and Savage had won the match. [15] [12]

Reception

The event was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and took place on August 29, 1988, in New York City's Madison Square Garden. [14] The pay-per-view had a 4.5 buyrate, which means that 4.5% of pay-per-view subscribers ordered the event. [16]

The original plan for SummerSlam was to bring Ric Flair over from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to the WWF. [17] Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWF, wanted Flair to challenge Savage in the main event for the WWF Championship. [17] Flair, however, felt obliged to the NWA, and did not leave the promotion for the WWF. [18] Therefore, Hogan and Savage were paired together to end their feuds with their respective on-screen rivals. Flair would not join the WWF until 1991.

In WWE.com's 2007 list of the top ten SummerSlam moments in history, The Ultimate Warrior's Intercontinental Championship title win was listed as number ten, [5] while Miss Elizabeth's distraction during the main event was listed at number nine. [13]

Calum Waddell, in Fighting Spirit Magazine, called The Ultimate Warrior's win over the Honky Tonk Man "genuinely captivating," and he said the match between The British Bulldogs and The Fabulous Rougeaus was an "exciting battle". In contrast, he had a negative reaction to the main event match, citing it as "predictably one-dimensional" and "abysmal". [19] Similarly, Adam Nedeff of 411Mania , called the tag team match between The British Bulldogs and The Rougeaus "a solid match", but stated that the "lack of a finish was a disappointment". Although he reviewed most of the matches negatively, he called the WWF World Tag Team Championship to match a "good match". Overall, he rated the event a 4.5 out of 10 and stated, "Without Warrior's big win and Elizabeth's surprise finish, this is a forgettable show". [20]

Aftermath

On October 16, 1988, Ted Dibiase defeated Randy Savage in the finals of the King of The Ring Tournament. The Mega Powers continued to team together after the event until a new storyline was developed where Randy Savage became jealous of Hulk Hogan paying attention to Miss Elizabeth, and as the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, felt slighted over his perceived lower billing in the Mega Powers' pecking order. Several key events were developed to foreshadow their burgeoning feud; these included Hogan asking Elizabeth to accompany him to televised matches, where he would act overly friendly with her, and accidentally eliminating Savage from the Royal Rumble in January 1989 by knocking him over the top rope and to the floor. [21] The final falling out happened on The Main Event II , when Elizabeth received an on-screen injury during a tag team match. Savage, left alone in the ring while Hogan tended to Elizabeth, attacked Hogan backstage. This rivalry culminated in a match for Savage's WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V, where Hogan won the title by pinning Savage. [22]

As WWF Intercontinental Champion, the Ultimate Warrior began receiving more on-air time and more prominent matches. His feud with the Honky Tonk Man continued for several months until Warrior was placed in a new feud with Rick Rude in early 1989. [23]

After retaining their title against The Hart Foundation, Demolition held the WWF Tag Team Championship for another 11 months, as part of a record-breaking 16-month reign as champions, [6] before eventually losing the title to The Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson) on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII . [24] During the midst of their title reign, despite being billed as villains, Demolition's popularity with fans continued to grow, and the tag team eventually was turned face 3 months after SummerSlam at the 1988 Survivor Series.

Several of the WWF's stars from the beginning of its national expansion in 1984 slowly began leaving the promotion over the next few months, including Ken Patera, Junkyard Dog, The British Bulldogs (particularly Dynamite Kid), and Don Muraco as the WWF began focusing on new talents such as Bad News Brown, Rick Rude, the Ultimate Warrior, the Powers of Pain, and the Brain Busters (who would arrive in October 1988).

Later in 1988, The Big Boss Man would join forces with the One Man Gang (who by then; had changed his character to Akeem, hailing from "Deepest Darkest Africa") to form the tag team called "The Twin Towers".

The Bolsheviks began to fall down the tag team ranks, losing in feuds with the Powers of Pain and later with the newly arrived Bushwhackers and Rockers.

Following the inaugural 1988 event, SummerSlam became one of the WWF's most successful events, as well as one of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble, which were eventually dubbed the "Big Four". [25] Those four events, along with King of the Ring introduced in 1993, were known as the "Classic Five" (or "Big Five") until 2002, as the King of the Ring PPV was discontinued after 2002. [26] [27] In August 2021, Money in the Bank joined the four to become part of the "Big Five". [28] SummerSlam has also been referred to as "The Biggest Party of the Summer", [29] and eventually became the promotion's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. [30] [31] In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), [32] and the "WWE" abbreviation became an orphaned initialism in April 2011. [33] SummerSlam continued to be held in August every year until 2022, as that year's event was scheduled to be held in July. [34] However, the 2023 event returned to August. [35]

Results

No.ResultsStipulationsTimes [1]
1 The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) vs. The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) ended in a time limit draw [14] Tag team match 20:00
2 Bad News Brown defeated Ken Patera [14] Singles match 06:33
3 Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Junkyard Dog by disqualification [14] Singles match06:18
4 The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) (with The Baron) defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) (with Slick) [14] Tag team match05:27
5 The Ultimate Warrior defeated The Honky Tonk Man (c) (with Jimmy Hart) [4] Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship 00:31
6 Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin) defeated 'The Rock' Don Muraco [4] Singles match05:28
7 Demolition (Ax and Smash) (c) (with Mr. Fuji and Jimmy Hart) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) [4] Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship 10:49
8 Big Boss Man (with Slick) defeated Koko B. Ware [4] Singles match05:57
9 Jake Roberts defeated Hercules [4] Singles match10:06
10 The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant) (with Virgil and Bobby Heenan) [15] Tag team match with Jesse Ventura as special guest referee 14:43
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 "SummerSlam 1988". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  2. ↑ Assael, Shaun. Sex, Lies, & Headlocks, 74–80.
  3. ↑ Assael, Shaun. Sex, Lies, & Headlocks, 94–95.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Shields, Brian. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s, 176.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Adkins, Greg (August 23, 2007). "The fast and the furious". WWE . Retrieved April 20, 2008.
  6. 1 2 "Title Histories: World Tag Team Championship (Demolition's reign)". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  7. ↑ Jake Roberts (2005). Jake Roberts: Pick Your Poison (DVD). World Wrestling Entertainment.
  8. ↑ Powell, John. "Rick Rude's bio". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Wrestler Profiles: Jake Roberts". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved May 25, 2008.
  10. ↑ Powell, John. "Tournament spices up WrestleMania 4". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
  11. 1 2 3 Meltzer, Dave (2004). Tributes II: Remembering More of the World's Greatest Professional Wrestlers. Sports Publishing LLC. p.  214. ISBN   1-58261-817-8.
  12. 1 2 "SummerSlam 1988: Main Event". WWE. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Rote, Andrew (August 23, 2007). "Mega-beauty stuns the beasts". WWE . Retrieved April 20, 2008.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shields, Brian. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s, 174.
  15. 1 2 3 Shields, Brian. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s, 177.
  16. ↑ Hoops, Brian (July 8, 2008). "Nostalgia Review: GAB 1988: Flair vs. Luger; Windham vs. Dusty Rhodes; Sting/Koloff vs. Anderson/Blanchard". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
  17. 1 2 Flair, Ric. To Be the Man, 234.
  18. ↑ Flair, Ric. To Be the Man, 235.
  19. ↑ Waddell, Calum. "Feel The Heat!". Fighting Spirit Magazine. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
  20. ↑ Nedeff, Adam (July 23, 2008). "The Name on the Marquee: Summerslam 88 (8.29.1988)". 411Mania . Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  21. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1989: Match". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  22. ↑ "Title Histories: WWE Championship (Savage's reign)". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  23. ↑ Powell, John. "Canada hosts WrestleMania 6". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  24. ↑ "Title Histories: World Tag Team Championship (Brain Busters' reign)". World Wrestling Entertainment . Retrieved April 21, 2008.
  25. ↑ Keith, Scott (2004). Wrestling's One Ring Circus: The Death of the World Wrestling Federation. Citadel Press. p. 160. ISBN   0-8065-2619-X.
  26. ↑ Shields, Brian. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s, 166.
  27. ↑ Sullivan, Kevin (November 23, 2010). The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. Gallery Books. p. 124. ISBN   9781439193211. At the time, SummerSlam was one of WWE's "big five" Pay-Per-Views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, and Survivor Series were the others), ...
  28. ↑ News 3 Staff (August 22, 2021). "Las Vegas to host WWE's Money in the Bank in 2022". KSNV . Archived from the original on August 23, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ↑ Dee, Louie (May 17, 2006). "Let the Party Begin". WWE . Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved May 12, 2008.
  30. ↑ Paddock, Matty (August 21, 2017). "WWE SummerSlam results: Brock Lesnar and Jinder Mahal survive as Finn Balor defeats Bray Wyatt" . Independent.co.uk . Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  31. ↑ Crosby, Jack (August 19, 2018). "WWE SummerSlam 2018 matches, card, location, date, start time, predictions PPV rumors". CBSSports . Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  32. ↑ "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment". WWE . Archived from the original on January 19, 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  33. ↑ Sacco, Justine; Weitz, Michael (April 7, 2011). "The New WWE" (Press release). Connecticut: WWE. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  34. ↑ Labert, Jeremy (October 25, 2021). "WWE Announces Pay-Per-View Schedule For 2022, WrestleMania 38 Set To Be Two Nights". Fightful. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  35. ↑ Lambert, Jeremy (February 7, 2023). "WWE SummerSlam 2023 To Take Place On August 5 At Ford Field". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.

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This Tuesday in Texas was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on December 3, 1991, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. The event was an attempt by the WWF to establish Tuesday as a secondary pay-per-view night. Lukewarm reaction and a disappointing 1.0 buyrate rendered the experiment a failure, and the company shelved its plans until October 2004, when it held Taboo Tuesday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SummerSlam (1989)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1989 SummerSlam was the second annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 28, 1989, in the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Ten matches were contested at the event, including one dark match held before the live broadcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SummerSlam (1990)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1990 SummerSlam was the third annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 27, 1990, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The card consisted of 10 televised matches, including two main events. The Ultimate Warrior successfully defended the WWF Championship against Rick Rude in a Steel Cage match, and Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake by countout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Rumble (1990)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1990 Royal Rumble was the third annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 21, 1990, at the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Rumble (1989)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1989 Royal Rumble was the second annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. After the inaugural event aired as a television special, the 1989 event aired on pay-per-view (PPV), thus becoming one of the WWF's original four annual PPV events, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which would become recognized as the "Big Four". It took place on January 15, 1989, at The Summit in Houston, Texas. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survivor Series (1987)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1987 Survivor Series was the inaugural Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Night on November 26, 1987, and was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio. It was one of the first four annual pay-per-view events produced by the WWF, along with WrestleMania, introduced in 1985, and Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, introduced in 1988, referred to as the "Big Four".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survivor Series (1988)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1988 Survivor Series was the second annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on November 24, 1988, at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio for the second consecutive year. Four matches were contested at the event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survivor Series (1989)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1989 Survivor Series was the third annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Day on November 23, 1989, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survivor Series (1992)</span> World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event

The 1992 Survivor Series was the sixth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on November 25, 1992, at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio, which was the third time a Survivor Series was held there after the 1987 and 1988 events. It was the first Survivor Series to have only one match with the namesake elimination tag team match while the remaining matches were one-on-one and standard tag team matches.

The Twin Towers were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1988 to 1990, consisting of Akeem and the Big Boss Man. They are best known for a main event feud with the Mega Powers.

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