Back in 1988 Vince McMahon’s expansion of the World Wrestling Federation was gathering pace. Wrestlemania was well established and the previous year he’d launched The Survivor Series. Now all he needed was a massive event between the two PPVs so on 29th August 1988, Summerslam was born. It’s gone on to become the second biggest PPV of the year, so it’s time to take a look back at the history of this event and explain amongst many other things, why Inter-Continental Champions have every reason to be very worried when they defend their title at Summerslam.

Like Wrestlemania, Summerslam was born at Madison Square Garden and of course Hulk Hogan was in the first main event. However, Hogan wasn’t champion having lost the title to Andre the Giant and seeing Randy Savage win the belt at WM IV. So the main event saw Hogan team up with Savage to beat Dibiase and Andre. Shockingly Miss Elizabeth revealed her red knickers in order to distract the heels, I wonder what she’d have had to do in 2005 to do that!

Elsewhere on a busy card that included 10 matches, the longest reigning IC Champion met a sorry end. The Honky Tonk Man was due to defend against Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake but he was injured so Honky didn’t know who he’d be defending his title against. Enter The Ultimate Warrior who amazingly beat HTM in just 28 seconds! Demolition retained their tag titles beating the Hart Foundation in just less than ten minutes. First ever match at Summerslam? The British Bulldogs had a twenty minute draw with the Rougeau brothers and probably tried to kill each other backstage! Rick Rude beat JYD, Dino Bravo beat Don Muraco and Jake Roberts beat Hercules Hernandez.

Summerslam proved to be a great success and in 1989 was held in New Jersey. By now Hogan wasn’t just champion again but a film star. He’d filmed the appalling ‘No Holds Barred’ and Vince made the mistake of making another of the movies stars into a wrestler. In the main event Hogan tagged with Beefcake to beat Savage and the woeful Zeus. The IC Title changed hands again and like in 1988 it was the Ultimate Warrior who won the belt. He’d dropped it to Rick Rude at WM5 but got it back here in 16 minutes. There was lots of tag team wrestling on this card with The Brainbusters beating the Hart Foundation, The Rougeaus and Rick Martel beating The Rockers and Tito Santana, Demolition and Duggan beating Andre, Akeem and Bossman and of course the main event. Compare that to what we get now! Other highlights included Dusty Rhodes pinning The Honky Tonk Man (at least he lasted nine minutes this time) and Curt Hennig getting a push as he beat Terry Taylor.

Summerslam moved into the 90s with a double main event in Philadelphia. In the first WWF title match ever held at Summerslam. The Ultimate Warrior beat Rick Rude in a steel cage match but it was Hogan who stole the limelight as usual beating Earthquake. Guess what, the IC curse struck again as Kerry Von Erich beat Mr Perfect for the title, sadly both wrestlers are no longer with us. The tag titles also changed hands as the Hart Foundation laid their Summerslam hoodoo and beat Demolition in a best of three falls match. Elsewhere there were wins for Jake Roberts, The Warlord, Randy Savage and The Rockers lost again, this time to Hercules and Paul Roma.

It was back to MSG in 91 and the post Iraqi war story as Hogan (now champ again) and Warrior beat the team of Slaughter, Mustafa and General Adnan (who has a very interesting autobiography out at the moment). The Legion of Doom beat The Nasty Boys to win the tag titles and there was also a match for the IC Title and for the fourth year in a row the belt changed hands as Bret Hart beat Mr Perfect, the second year in a row that Hennig lost the belt at Summerslam. Virgil beat Ted Dibiase to win the Million Dollar Belt and there were pushes for IRS and The Big Bossman beat The Mountie meaning the Canadian had to spend the night in a jail!

No guesses for where the 1992 event was held, it was of course at Wembley Stadium and Hogan was nowhere to be seen. Quick hint to Vince here, that’s 13 years since one of your major PPVs was held in the UK. Main event was the IC Title match and lo and behold it happened again as the British Bulldog beat Bret Hart to become the new champion. Five years and five IC title changes. Randy Savage retained his WWF title against The Ultimate Warrior in a match dominated by the presence of Ric Flair (who won the belt days later) and Mr Perfect. The Natural Disasters retained their tag titles against the awful Beverley Brothers, Shawn Michaels had a bizarre ‘don’t hit me in the face’ match with Rick Martel and The Undertaker came to the ring in a hearse and then beat Kamala by DQ in just three minutes. Big pushes were being given to Papa Shango, Nailz and Crush.

By 1993 it was all-change in the WWF. Bret Hart had won the WWF Title, lost it to Yokozuna who then lost and regained it against Hogan. Lex Luger was the companies new all-American hero beating Yokozuna by count-out in the main event but not winning the title. Shawn Michaels created history by beating Mr Perfect to retain the IC Title, the first successful defence of the belt at the PPV and Mr Perfect’s third IC loss at Summerslam. Lots of awful matches on this card with Undertaker beating Giant Gonzalez (when they said Orton would meet a former opponent of Undi on Smackdown I had a great fear that the Giant might return). Razor Ramon beat Ted Dibiase in the latter’s last match for the company, World Tag Champs The Steiners beat the Heavenly Bodies and Jerry Lawler beat Bret Hart, The big push was being given to Ludvig Borga who beat Marty Jannetty.

1994 saw the event in Chicago and a terrible main event as The Undertaker made his return to beat Ted Dibiase’s Evil Undertaker (Brian Lee). Unbelievably that was above the WWF Title steel cage match which saw Bret Hart beat Owen Hart. It was too good to last as the IC Title changed hands again as Razor Ramon beat Diesel but more from the former champ later. The Women’s title was defended for the first time on a Summerslam card as Alundra ‘Madusa’ Blayze beat Bull Nakano to keep the belt she’d one day dump in a bin on Nitro.

If the 1994 main event was bad enough, Vince managed to top (bottom?) it in 1995 with Diesel successfully defending his WWF Title against King Mabel in just under ten minutes Meanwhile Shawn Michaels proved he could do what others couldn’t with another successful IC Title defence, this time against Razor Ramon in a ladder match ordered by Commissioner Gorilla Monsoon. The late Bertha Faye won the women’s title from Alundra Blayze and Bret Hart beat Isaac ‘Kane’ Yankem. Hunter Hearst Helmsley made his Summerslam debut beating Bob Holly and Barry Horowitz beat Skip (aka the late Chris Candido and am I sick of writing about the fact great stars have died).

We were due a better main event in 1996 and nearly got it as Shawn Michaels beat Vader to keep his WWF Title. The Smoking Gunns beat Skip and Zip, The New Rockers and The God(Awful)Winns to keep the tag titles. There was no IC Title match. Best match was when Mankind beat The Undertaker in a Boiler Room brawl with Paul Bearer turning heel. Sid beat Davey Boy Smith, Goldust beat Marc Mero and the dark match was Austin beating Yokozuna in less than two minutes.

History was made in 1997 as the WWF title finally changed hands as Bret Hart beat The Undertaker. Mankind beat Triple H in a cage match, Goldust beat Brian Pillman who sadly died a few months later and Davey Boy Smith beat Ken Shamrock to keep his European Title. The curse continued as Steve Austin beat Owen Hart to win the IC Title in a match that shortened his career.

It was back to Madison Square Garden in 1998 and in the main event Steve Austin retained his WWF Title beating The Undertaker. The New Age Outlaws won the tag titles beating Mankind (Kane didn’t appear) and Ken Shamrock beat Owen Hart in a Lion’s Den match. European Champ, D-Lo Brown beat Val Venis by DQ and X-Pac beat Jeff Jarrett in a hair v hair match. What about the IC Title I hear you cry? Well, again it changed hands as Triple H beat Rocky Mavia to win the title.

Onwards to Minneapolis in 1999 and a WWF Title change as Mankind beat Triple H and Steve Austin (defending champ) to in he title. He didn’t have a long reign though, losing the belt to Triple H the next night on Raw. Oh no, not again! The IC Title changed hands again as Jeff Jarrett beat D-Lo Brown to win the IC and European titles. Undertaker and Big Show beat X-Pac and Kane to win the tag titles, Test beat Shane McMahon to further his hopes of marrying Stephanie, The Rock beat Billy Gunn and Ken Shamrock beat Steve Blackman in a Lion’s Den match. Ivory retained her women’s title against Tori.

Summerslam 2000 next and the main event was a corker with The Rock retaining his WWF Title in a three-way match against Kurt Angle and Triple H who were too busy feuding over Stephanie. Can you believe this? A new IC Champ was crowned as Chyna and Eddie Guerrero beat IC Champ Val Venis and Trish Stratus in a mixed tag match. Chyna got the pin and the belt! Steve Blackman beat Shane McMahon to win the Hardcore title and Edge and Christian retained their tag titles in a titanic TLC match against the Hardys and the Dudleys. The Kat beat Terri in a Stink face thong match and The Undertaker had a no-contest against brother Kane.

2001 was a strange year as the failed invasion storyline was in full flow but it didn’t stop the IC title changing hands! Edge beat Lance Storm to win the belt. WCW Cruiserweight champ X-Pac beat WWF Light Heavyweight Champ Tajiri, RVD won the Hardcore title in a ladder match against Jeff Hardy and WCW Tag champs, Undertaker and Kane beat WWF Tag champs DDP and Kanyon. The Rock won the WCW Title from Booker T and in the main event Kurt Angle beat WWF Champ Steve Austin by DQ but the belts didn’t change hands. A really confusing year!

2002 saw a changing of the guard as Brock Lesnar beat The Rock to become the new Undisputed Champion. Again!! RVD beat Chris Benoit to win the IC Title. Tag Champs Christian and Lance Storm kept their belts against Booker T and Goldust. Elsewhere Kurt Angle beat Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair beat Chris Jericho, Edge pinned Eddie Guerrero and Undertaker beat Test. Match of the night was when Shawn Michaels made his comeback to beat Triple H.

By 2003 the WWE had split its brand into Raw and Smackdown and the IC title was no more. Main event saw Triple H keep his World Heavyweight Title as he beat Goldberg, Orton, Nash, Michaels and Jericho in an Elimination Chamber Match. Smackdown champ Kurt Angle beat Brock Lesnar. Raw tag champs, La Resistance beat The Dudleys, while Eddie Guerrero beat Benoit, Rhyno and Tajiri to keep the US Title. Shane McMahon beat Eric Bischoff in a waste of time and The Undertaker had to put up with a match against A-Train, he won of course. Kane beat RVD.

Finally we reach 2004 and an amazing fact. Edge retained the restored IC Title against Batista and Jericho. Randy Orton became the youngest World Heavyweight Champ as he beat Chris Benoit and WWE Champ, JBL lost to the Undertaker by DQ but kept his belt. Kane beat Matt Hardy so he forced Lita to marry her, could we ever have guessed what would happen over the next 12 months? John Cena beat Booker T, Triple H beat Egene and Kurt Angle beat Eddie Guerrero.

So there we are, Summerslam from day one to the present. Now for some interesting facts:

• This year’s appearance by Hulk Hogan is his first at Summerslam since 1991 and only his second singles match.
• The Undertaker has never won a WWF(E) title match at Summerslam
• Kurt Angle has never lost a one-on-one match at Summerslam
• Animal has never lost at Summerslam
• Shawn Michael’s only singles defeat was in the Elimination Chamber match
• Only Edge and Shawn Michaels have ever successfully defended the IC Title at Summerslam, the title changing hands twelve out of fifteen times.
• Rey Mysterio has never won at Summerslam (sorry Dominic)

Stephen Ashfield