When Summerslam premiered in 1988 as the WWE’s second unique and annual PPV offering, fans couldn’t wait for what would later be billed as the second most important event, just behind WrestleMania. With the 25th anniversary of Summerslam coming later this month, let’s take a look back at 10 of the most amazing and exciting moments from 25 years of WWE’s heat-soaked slam fest.
In the 80’s, Hulk Hogan was considered the biggest thing walking, not only as just a wrestling star, but a crossover star as well. Towards the tail end of the 80’s he teamed up with another huge fan-favorite in “Macho Man” Randy Savage as they did battle in the main event of the first ever Summerslam to a sold out Madison Square Garden Arena. The ending of the match saw the usually reserved Ms. Elizabeth strip off her skirt and to distract the duo of Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase. She was hot way before WWE Divas even existed.
While the main event of the evening saw Hulk Hogan teaming with The Ultimate Warrior to face Sgt. Slaughter’s Axis of Evil, it was the match between Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect and fast-rising, fan-backed challenger Bret “The Hitman” Hart, which stole the show and the hearts of the audience. Battered and exhausted after their grueling battle, Hart made his way up the stands to embrace his parents, who had just witnessed their son win his first singles title in front of millions of viewers on PPV. It was an amazing moment for the fans as well.
Just one year after winning the Intercontinental title, and rocketing to the top of the rankings with his technical prowess and ability to connect with the fans, Bret Hart would have his toughest test to date when he would face his (real-life) brother-in-law and fellow fan-favorite, “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, in Smith’s own backyard at London’s Wembley Stadium. Over 80,000 fans in attendance witnessed what some say is one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. After 25 minutes of classic action, “The Bulldog” was the one left with his hand raised and the belt around his waist.
The Undertaker was always one of the most unique characters to ever step inside a wrestling ring, but when Mankind (Mick Foley) burst onto the scene in the mid 90’s, we were treated to perhaps an even more demented and possibly psychotic character that would go as far as hurting himself to injure others. So, it was only right for their major encounter at Summerslam, that they engage in the first ever Boiler Room Brawl. The match started in the arena’s boiler room and the point was to destroy your opponent with anything that wasn’t nailed down. Why the match itself was violent, it was the swerve ending that left fans’ jaws hanging.
During the summer of ’97, Stone Cold Steve Austin was waging war with the Hart family, specifically Bret Hart’s younger brother, Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart. After 15 minutes of back and forth action between the two veterans, Owen Hart dropped Austin on the top of his head in a pile-driver maneuver, and essentially broke Austin’s neck. Lying motionless for several minutes, he was finally able to drag himself over to Owen for a rather weak and sloppy cover attempt. Stone Cold would require surgery eventually and his career was never the same.
When your name is Shane McMahon and you’re the boss’ son, there’s really no need to take a seven-story leap onto your back during a live PPV broadcast. But, Shane doesn’t have fear in his heart, so that’s exactly what he did in his match with Steve Blackman for the Hardcore championship. To this day, it remains one of the scariest stunts ever attempted during a WWE broadcast.
After Michael Jordan retired for a few years then decided to come back to play for the Washington Wizards, it was apparent that his magic had waned in his years away from the game. When Shawn Michaels came back to WWE in-ring action after spending 5 years on the DL for a severely injured back, no one was quite sure how the “Michael Jordan of wrestling” would rebound. To make things worse, he was facing his former best friend Triple-H in a street-fight. Not only did Michaels show he could still “go”, he put on the performance of a lifetime, and won what is still remembered as one of his very best matches. (SIDE NOTE: This is one of the greatest matches of all-time IMO)
When Shawn Michaels was running roughshod over the WWE in the 90’s, Hulk Hogan was taking the NWO to new heights in rival promotion WCW. The stars never lined up for a potential match between the two legends until 2005, when Shawn’s back was healthy and Hogan had returned to the company he helped build. Michaels played the role of the “heel” (bad guy) for the match, a decision he would later go on to say he agreed to only to appease Hogan’s giant ego. Watch the match and see just how over the top Michaels plays the part to spite the Hulkster.
After an incredibly physical and brutal Table, Ladders and Chairs match for the World Heavyweight Championship, new champ CM Punk stood over a befallen Jeff Hardy when suddenly the lights in the arena went out. When they came back on, Jeff Hardy’s broken body was no longer on the canvas—The Undertaker’s was. Rising up off the ring, he throttled the new champ and drove him through the canvas with a chokeslam, signaling his presence as a new challenger to the belt.
With CM Punk and John Cena facing each other in the main event in a world title unification bout, we were guaranteed to see a new champion by the end of the night. Only, it wasn’t Punk or Cena. It was Alberto Del Rio. At the closing of the match viewers saw Punk pin Cena despite his foot being on the ropes, a returning Kevin Nash stormed the ring and powerbombed new unified champ Punk unconscious. Seeing this as a golden opportunity, Alberto Del Rio cashed in on his ‘Money in the Bank’ clause, which allowed him to challenge for any title at any time, and quickly disposed of and pinned Punk to run out of the arena as the new champ.