[5.0] "My rating for SummerSlam 1988 is a 5/10, an event that had more bad matches that didn't mean a thing for storylines or something (pure showcase and bad matches) but then matches that made this a little better like the opener, the match for the Tag Team Titles was good and the Main Event was also good for me, I'll give it a 5/10 because I think it's a PPV that is just right there, not enough for my approved (because of too many bad matches) and the lost of the Intercontinental Title by Honky Tonk Man, It felt like his 454 days reign weren't a thing, just by that, Ultimate Warrior wins... Okay, but anyway 5/10"

[7.0] "I don't know why but for me this show is just satisfying. There is a couple of good matches, being the opener and pre-main. The main event is ok because of Jesse Ventura and Elizabeth. Other matches are rather mediocre, but the show has some very nice vibes and it's easy to watch it through. 7/10"

[5.0] "Boring boeing boring until the main event but a couple mayches were fine in between for example British bulldogs vs the fabulous rougeaus was really good sad it ended in a draw. Demolition vs the hart foundation was fun aswell"

[4.0] "A couple of okay matches and and good amount of bad matches make this a pretty boring first summerslam. There is nothing worth going out of your way to watch and most of the matches are boring nothing. 4/10."

[6.0] "The first iteration of Summerslam was a fun, if slightly house-show-adjacent, event. It certainly starts and finishes strongly; Bulldogs vs. Rougeaus (***1/2) was a really well-worked match that went to a draw, while the main event, Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks (***1/2), was a really fun spectacle with an iconic finish. The most famous moment though is Warrior's Intercontinental Championship win, which is a five-star moment, if ever there was one. What holds this back is the amount of filler on this card. Why didn't they book Roberts vs. Rude, instead of having them wrestle separate opponents. Did we need four elongated squashes? I just about liked this overall but it didn't feel like the huge show it would become yet."

[5.0] "My rating for SummerSlam 1988 is a 5/10, an event that had more bad matches that didn't mean a thing for storylines or something (pure showcase and bad matches) but then matches that made this a little better like the opener, the match for the Tag Team Titles was good and the Main Event was also good for me, I'll give it a 5/10 because I think it's a PPV that is just right there, not enough for my approved (because of too many bad matches) and the lost of the Intercontinental Title by Honky Tonk Man, It felt like his 454 days reign weren't a thing, just by that, Ultimate Warrior wins... Okay, but anyway 5/10"

[6.0] "A very top heavy show for sure. Probably the best debut show of the Big 4 PPVs, this show had a lot to enjoy but also a lot of dull trash in the front half. Muraco Bravo was the most forgettable thing ever, but at the same time I'll never forget how star studded and fun the main event was. Boss Man had a fun match, we got to see two good tag matches, Duggan and Brother Love was funny, and the iconic squash match from the Warrior was one of the best squashes of all time. Not a bad PPV, but the stretch of filler garbage at the front makes it so I can't rate this too highly."

[5.0] "The very first SummerSlam did ok. Most of the matches here arent worth watching and are classic Golden Era matches but theres some good stuff here. The opening was fun and same goes for the Tag Titles match. Warrior winning the IC title was a fun moment and the main event which was the match of the night was a fine Golden Era babyface vs heel match."

"A show with many lacklustre matches, with the saving grace being the tag matches(minus the 4th match) Warrior got a huge pop for his title win ending the HTM's reign of terror."

[3.0] "While this show has lots of Golden Era charm, unfortunately, the general match quality is below average. Match 1: 5/10 Match 2: 3/10 Match 3: 3/10 Match 4: 2/10 Match 5: /10 Match 6: 2/10 Match 7: 5/10 Match 8: 4/10 Match 9: 3/10 Match 10: 7/10 Overall Total: 3.77/10"

[5.0] "The filler matches and angles were BAD and I imagine sitting in the arena live without a fast forward button would have been excruciating, but there was enough here to save it from being abysmal. The opening tag and the tag title match were good action, Warrior finally managed to get that title off Honky in one of the best payoffs ever, and the main event was the classic 80s superstar entertainment."

[5.0] "SummerSlam's 1988 debut completes the original installment of the WWF's "Big Four" PPV's. While it is a very average overall show, I did grade it higher than the poor debut shows for the other Big Four PPVs, so that's definitely something. Despite not being a Hogan fan, I really loved the entertaining storytelling execution of the main event. You can read more about my specific thoughts on that within that match's rating page, if you'd like. This was a mixed bag show with a lot of mediocre fluff, but I really only thought two matches were notably bad: a.) kicking the show off by giving four of the more capable in-ring workers on that roster a stupid time limit draw, 20 minutes of outcome blue balls for the entire crowd and b.) The Ultimate Warrior's ridiculous 30 second squash victory to win an IC title belt. I don't care that much about disrespect for the Honky Tonk Man, but I do care about disrespect for the IC belt itself. Back then, that belt generally meant something and would continue to be important until it was de-emphasized more in the Attitude Era. The worst element of this show outside of the matches was Superstar Billy Graham subbing in for Jesse Ventura on commentary. Graham is the wrestler from whom Hogan stole the whole "brother" thing with his promos, except Graham simply can't contain himself from saying it just about every sentence. It wears thin very, very quickly. What else sucked? How about The Big Boss Man, a police character, yelling out, "Come on, boy! " at Koko B. Ware while standing over him. Yikes... how about "Get up, man! " instead? On the plus side, the fun main event was coupled with a really solid Demolition vs Hart Foundation Tag Title match that helped the midcard crowd energy level stay up when it was threatening to dwindle. All in all, there's a lot of forgettable stuff here outside of the main event, but it's still an important historical show for establishing this PPV."

[5.0] "The first ever Summerslam and what a very average show to kick off a summer Tradition. The main event is memorable but not for the in ring action and there are a couple of other matches which are slightly above average but the rest of this show was mediocre or even bad. The only match I would recommend would be the main event if you haven't seen it the rest of this can be easily skipped although the Ultimate Warrior winning the IC title in a squash is a pretty good moment as well."

[5.0] "This has not aged well and I don't remember watching this one that often back in the day, either. The main event was good and so was the opener and the Harts/Demolition match, but everything else was painful filler. The Ultimate Warrior squashing Honky Tonk Man was enjoyable."

[8.0] "There's power in this when Hulk Hogan runs wild with a wild Randy Savage. Although the matches are weak, the show is simply off the charts, the greatness of these two stylish wrestlers is capable of uprooting the audience. I can imagine the joy and madness of the spectators of that era, the golden era of the wrestling federation. Such stars earned their legendary status with hard work and effort in the ring and outside it, and I was pleased to be a part of it."

[3.0] "To be perfectly honest, the debut Summerslam was quite bad. It's dangerously circling 'awful' territory, but is just decent enough to just be 'bad' instead. Even the BEST this show has to offer isn't amazing. You really just need to stick with the tag matches here. The opening tag match is the best match on the card, but ends in a disappointing time limit draw. The tag title match is fine but generic, and the main event is pretty lackluster but has a historically unique and ingenious finish. All of the singles matches are garbage. Warrior winning the IC title is a bit more special because of how hot the fans were to FINALLY see a popular guy take it away from Honky. Everything else didn't even feel like a PPV match. Most of these single matches feel like glorified house show matches. They CERTAINLY aren't anything worth putting on PPV. Let alone a new PPV you're trying to break out of the pack with. The historic main event might have been what saved this show, but nowadays, there's very little to see here. Out of the debut PPV's of WWF's 'Big Four, ' this is far and away the weakest. Even the debut Royal Rumble that wasn't even a PPV and had a lot of downtime is more enjoyable at its core than this Summerslam is. I can only recommend this event for the sake of history, but I can't imagine this being an event many will throw on for fun after the first time viewing."

[7.0] "Very good opening match, then we were fed a bunch of boring crap until the latter stages. Not a good match, but good moment, Ultimate Warrior winning the IC belt, really could of gotten something good out of that with Honky Tonk Man. Tag Team championship a great match and the main event was a classic spectacle. Great atmosphere for this PPV. 7*"

[5.0] "This show has 4 good matches that make reach the halfway point of the scoring range. The opening tag has great wrestling and doesn't feel like it lasts 20 minutes at all. Would've been better if they played up the time limit aspect a bit more (7/10) Warrior vs Honky Tonk Man had a good set up with the Honky refusing to learn who his opponent was, short and sweet squash but a historic moment (6/10) Demolition vs Hart Foundation is a bit slow at moments but gets really good when the Foundation is on offense, best match in terms of workrate (7/10) The Main Event was also solid with Savage being as explosive as always, Andre being properly used sparringly Dibiase being a good heel and Hogan having a pretty good showing for a change, great storytellingas well (7/10) Bossman/Koko and Roberts/Hercules are both watchable (5/10) but not much more. Everything else on the card is on the 2 or 3 out of 10 range and should've been replaced with something better to keep up with the highlights"

[5.0] "Singles matches really dragged this PPV down. The opening match and main event were really good, the Mega Bucks/Powers match in particular was a satisfying culmination to a really solid story and had some good storytelling of its own, and match of the night was Demolition/Hart Foundation. Shame about the rest of it, weak filler matches mainly."

[6.0] "Decent show. An entertaining opener with The Rougeaus once again looking phenomenal. The World Tag Titles Match was very good where The Hart Foundation got the best out of Demolition. A nice match with Koko looking great against The Big Boss Man and the main event that stole the show - simple, but a very well worked match that had the crowd invested in it up to the last minute. Good SummerSlam if you don't mind some of the filler at various points."

[6.0] "The first SummerSlam is a decent, but not great show. Although he has a few good moments, I really didn't like Billy Graham on commentary; though it worked well for the main. Speaking of the main, a smartly booked match; even if it's a shame Macho Man doesn't get to defend the World Title on PPV. This show has the historic match where Ultimate Warrior beats the Honky Tonk Man for the IC Championship in 31 seconds to end his still (as of writing) standing historic reign."

[4.0] "This is a fairly difficult show to rate. A lot of the matches are straight up bad, but since they're short and the PPV overall is only 2 1/2 hours it never really feels like things are dragging too much. There was definitely entertainment value here despite a lot of poor wrestling, and there are several big, memorable moments. It's not 'must see' by any means (especially in 2023), but I think there is enough good here to at least scrape by with an adequate (albeit subpar) rating."

"This show felt incomplete without a world title match. Most of the match ups were okay, but there were a couple excellent matches on the card (the Main Event, the opening match, the tag match between Demolition and the Hart Foundation). Definitely need to watch if you are a fan of 1980's WWF"

[5.0] "Show had a lot of star power but many of the matches did not live up to expectation. The opening tag was good but the next 5 matches were not. The Brother Love segment also fell flat for me. Demolition v Harts was good but I expected more from these teams. Bossman v Koko also was a weaker match. Hercules v Roberts was a surprising match of the night for me. The main event was alright but did not like the finish personally. Very up and down show for me that did not feel like a PPV."

[5.0] "Ok type show. It was entertaining for me. I love old school wrestling. Tho I think this time period is overrated. But see the fans. See the crowd. It waa loved by all that time. Give feelings like real sport. (**1/2)"

[3.0] "Very poor show. Not a single good match in it. The Warrior title win and the main event are historic stuff, but that's about it."

[5.0] "This is a good ppv and a good start to summerslam none of the matches stand out but it is more just the event and the first summerslam."

[6.0] "The opening tag, the tag title match and the main event are what carry the show. The IC title match was brilliantly booked and it was the perfect storytelling in how to get the belt off Honky Tonk Man. Warrior hitting the ring and wiping him out before Jimmy Hart could pull a DQ or Honky would walk out of the match was the only way to beat him after a year of ducking out of every title defense. Still, there was a lot of garbage on this show that didn't need to be there."

[5.0] "I'll sum-up this show as quick as possible. Make sure you watch the main event, the tag title match and Honky Tonk Man finally being dethroned by Warrior. Skip the rest of this show and you will miss absolutely nothing. It had some huge stuff happening, as I already mentioned, but the matches in between really dragged."

[5.0] "There are a lot of 80s wrestling cards, especially in the WWF, that overcome some subpar or even dismal wrestling with sheer atmosphere and storytelling. This show does the same thing - just only in the main event. Most of the midcard is, frankly, meaningless. There's not a lot of weight behind the Bulldogs battling the Rougeaus, as fun as it is, or Jake Roberts taking on Hercules, or Don Muraco and Dino Bravo. Compared to a lot of shows, this feels like having matches just to have matches, and the simple fact is, there isn't a genuinely good singles match on the entire show. The tag matches are alright, and the main event tells a hell of a story, but this isn't a Wrestlemania 1 or a Wrestlemania 3 that elevates itself so far beyond the in-ring action with story and buzz. This is just kind of a show, that it's really not worth going back to watch except to see the next part of the Mega-Powers storyline."

[4.0] "This show is kind of underwhelming to be honest. The Warrior moment is the highlight I think, and there are some solid enough matches on the under card, but in general it feels like it's missing that one killer bout to push it over the edge and really make it a good event overall. It's relatively easy to watch, and feels more like an extended episode of Smackdown sometimes rather than a proper full on pay per view, but I wouldn't say it was particularly good or anything"

[5.0] "Our opening match is The British Bulldogs vs. The Rougeau Bros. The Rougeaus had just turned heel in an odd way ? they were pro-American. Dynamite was slowed considerably at this point, but he still looks great by the standards of the day. Good match, but the following year would have an even better opener. ***1/2. Ken Patera vs. Bad News Brown. Boring match to put Bad News over. Patera was way over the hill here, and his perm made him look like Donna? s dad from ? That 70? s Show. ? Bad News looked like a badass. 1/4*. Rick Rude vs. The Junkyard Dog. JYD was just as washed up as Patera at this point, but at least he? s over. Rude, on the other hand, was starting to show signs of being a decent wrestler and not just a gym rat with good mic skills. In the middle of the match, Rude stops to take down his tights to reveal a second pair with Cheryl Roberts? face air-brushed on them. That brings out Jake Roberts to attack Rude for the DQ at 6:20. 1/4*. The Powers of Pain vs. The Bolshevik. [sarcasm]Wow, what a natural pairing the Bolsheviks and Slick are. [/sarcasm]. Just a squash to put the POP over, and it worked. 1/2*. Honky Tonk Man vs. A Mystery Opponent. Brutus Beefcake was supposed to get the title here, but he? s injured of course, so Honky calls for ? anyone in the locker room? to come out and fight, and he doesn? t care who it is. The Ultimate Warrior answers the call and finishes off Honky with a clothesline and splash. This was all apparently at the suggestion of the Honky Tonk Man who wanted to work with a guy who could actually draw money since Hogan was focusing on movies. 1/4*. Don ? The Rock? Muraco vs. Dino Bravo. This is a rematch from the WrestleMania IV tournament. I should note that the clipped version seamlessly makes it look like an 80-second match ? which still sucked. 1/2*. Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation. Jimmy had been screwing the Harts over, so they dumped him. He still owns their contracts, so he retains the right to be at ringside. Solid match thanks to formula and effort. **1/2. The Big Boss Man vs. Koko B. Ware. With the UWF going under, it was a given that ? Big Bubba Rogers? would return to the NWA, but Ray fooled them all by signing with the WWF. Pretty good for a squash. Koko was such a spunky little Gobot. *1/4. Hercules vs. Jake Roberts. The match went 10:06. Felt like 60:01. 1/4*. Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant & Ted Dibiase. Resident Hogan-hater Jesse Ventura is your special guest referee. Jesse rearranges the tag ropes so they are in the adjacent corners, which freaks me out because the WWE never has the teams in the lower-left and upper-right. This pairing of the two top babyfaces and the two top heels would become a staple for Summerslam in the early years. Mostly remembered for the underwear strategy, which isn? t all that bad today. The match was okay thanks to Savage and Dibiase carrying a lot of the load. **1/4 The main event was okay. Everything else was an introductory squash"

[8.0] "Very good show in the back half, and I'll give it a lot of credit for that. The highlight of the first half for me is Bad News Brown punching Patera right in the face, Brown was a badass. After the surprise of the Ultimate Warrior winning the title (hate Warrior but it was a good moment, big pop) the show takes on a whole new life, especially after putting Bravo/Muraco behind us. Good tag title match, much better than the opener in my opinion, then a great short match between Bossman and Koko, really good match with Jake and Herc, and then a main event with an epic feel and a lot of layers of consequence to unpack. Not a perfect show but a very good one."

[2.0] "This was an atrocious pay per view. I see people down below talking about "it was good for the time", this wasn't even good for the time. With ten matches on the card, only two were good and the rest were horrible. The two good matches were the opener and the main event. The opening tag match was the best match on the show by a country mile. I thought it was fantastic with both teams being excellent and working excellently as tag teams as well as with their opponents. The main event was fairly decent, you could say it was pretty good. I just might be jaded from the rest of the show. The crowd was into it and the action was pretty fun. The post match celebration was great. I'll also say that the Ultimate Warrior title win was a positive since it was exciting and didn't take up much time. All the other matches are really not worth a watch. All bad, lazy, disappointing, whatever you want to describe them. There were some moments from matches that were alright but it didn't make the match as a whole better. Mainly Jim Neidhart's comeback in the tag title match and Koko B Ware's offense in his match are the only ones I can recall. The worst match of the night was probably Jake Roberts vs Hercules because it was boring and Long, not short like the other matches. One final thing is that a few of the backstage segments were good. Probably one of the worst Summerslams of all time."

[8.0] "Davey Boy Smith/Dynamite Kid vs. Jacques Rougeau/Raymond Rougeau - 8/10 Bad News Brown vs. Ken Patera - 6/10 Rick Rude vs. Junkyard Dog - 7/10 Barbarian/Warlord vs. Boris Zhukov/Nikolai Volkoff - 7/10 Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man - n/a, too short to rate Dino Bravo vs. Don Muraco - 7/10 Ax/Smash vs. Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart - 8/10 Big Boss Man vs. Koko B. Ware - 7/10 Jake Roberts vs. Hercules Hernandez - 7/10 Hulk Hogan/Randy Savage vs. Andre the Giant/Ted DiBiase - 9/10"

[6.0] "First ever SummerSlam, was it great? No, but it wasn't bad neither. It was an okay PPV for that time that has big historical meaning. Most of the matches are very short, I can even call them squashes. Howewer they can be enjoyable. Opener is a very good technical tag team match. Demolition vs Hart Foundation is nice too but it was too short for me. Warrior vs Honky Tonk is a squash but it was a perfect way to end HTM's long IC title reign. Bossman vs Koko and Roberts vs Herkules are other solid undercard matches. Main event is a very entertaining match with four biggest stars of that time. And of course the ending is just great."

[3.0] "The opening match had good action but ended without a winner. The main event had a big fight feel to it. Nothing in between was worth much note, except for the company ending the longest Intercontinental Championship run in their history in 31 seconds."

[8.0] "Very good wrestling Pay Per View from 1988. The main attraction was the Mega Powers against the Mega Bucks. Perhaps one of the most well built feuds in history. The main thing keeping this from a higher rating (than the 8 I gave it) was the commentating of Superstar Billy Graham. Jesse Ventura was certainly missed next to the legendary Gorilla Monsoon. Each match had significance to the upcoming year(s) in the WWF. Most of the wrestlers that lost left the company prior to WrestleMania 5. Rick Rude over Junk Yard Dog; Big Boss Man defeated Koko B. Ware; Dino Bravo over Don Muraco; Bad News Brown over Ken Patera... all four of those losers did not appear at WrestleMania 5. The opening contest was the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers against the British Bulldogs. That went to a time limit draw. Bulldogs were soon to depart and didn't appear at WrestleMania 5. Ultimate Warrior was the mystery replacement for Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake in the Inter-Continental Title match against Champion Honky Tonk Man. Great way to put Warrior over the champion. Hart Foundation losing to Demolition with assistance from Jimmy Hart so to retain the titles was good. Jake the Snake beat Hercules. Jake and Rick Rude continued to develop their feud. Brother Love Show had Hacksaw Jim Duggan as the guest. Highlight was the Secret Weapon Elizabeth in the Main Event as she took off her bottoms and revealed a pair of red undies to distract the Mega Bucks. What a Hot Summer Night indeed."

[5.0] "It starts with a great tag team match. Brown vs Patera, Rude vs JYD and Power of Pain vs Bolscheviks are short matches without any focus. The Intercontinental title match is an important one, 30 seconds which are memorable. The other matches aren't good, even the tag team between Demolition and Hart Foundation disappointed me. The main event is a solid fight between the four top stars, and Miss Elizabeth delivers a moment to remember."

[6.0] "While maybe not a fantastic show top-to-bottom, SummerSlam '88 did have several classic moments - notably, Warrior's surprise IC Title win over the long-reigning Honky Tonk Man, and of course the main event, which had a great big-event feel and lots going on (and who will ever forget Liz's distraction? ). In terms of in-ring quality, the top matches would be the opener Bulldogs vs. Rougeaus tag match (though it ended with a somewhat lame time limit draw), Hart Foundation vs. Demolition Tag Title match and Roberts vs. Hercules. Worth watching for nostalgia alone."