SummerSlam 1988: When Mega Powers Made Mega Bucks

The Mega Powers Made Mega Bucks

SummerSlam ’88 mustered all of WWF‘s star power, headlining the card with “The Mega Powers vs. The Mega Bucks”. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage teamed with the returning Hulk Hogan to comprise the Mega Powers, and they would take on their arch agitators in the team of “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant, also known as the Mega Bucks. Despite the quality of the match itself, it is undeniable that it had WrestleMania calibre drawing power and was one of the biggest WWF doubles matches of all time.

The numbers are indisputable. SummerSlam 1988 drew 20,000 to Madison Square Garden in New York, compared to WrestleMania IV‘s 19,199 at the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall in New Jersey just months earlier. The pay-per-view buyrates tell a similar story, while WrestleMania IV set a WWF record pulling 485,000 buys, SummerSlam came in exceptionally close second with 400,000.

While SummerSlam turned up the heat on McMahon’s campaign for a sports entertainment takeover of 1980s professional wrestling, how does the heavily hyped card of the summer stand up 30 years later?

• The Bolsheviks
• the British Bulldogs
• survivor series
• 1988
• The Fabulous Rougeaus
• bad news brown
• Turner Broadcasting System
• andre the giant
• Big Boss Man
• WrestleMania IV
• WCW
• Demolition
• Dino Bravo
• Ted DiBiase
• don muraco
• WWF Championship
• gorilla monsoon
• rick rude
• hercules
• Jim Crockett Promotions
• WWF
• honky tonk man
• Junkyard Dog
• hart foundation
• Ken Patera
• Koko B. Ware
• randy savage
• ultimate warrior
• powers of pain
• Hulk Hogan
• Jesse Ventura
• SummerSlam 1988
• WrestleMania
• Jake Roberts
• SummerSlam
• Ric Flair
• Vince McMahon
• Royal Rumble
• wwe

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