The 1988 SummerSlam was the inaugural SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. 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".
Promotional poster featuring The Mega Powers, The Mega Bucks, and Jesse Ventura
The inaugural SummerSlam was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Miss Elizabeth celebrated the Mega Powers' win, after removing her skirt to show her panties to distract the Mega Bucks.
SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind their flagship event, WrestleMania. It is also considered one of the company's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five". The event has been broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV) since the inaugural 1988 event and via livestreaming since the 2014 event.
Madison Square Garden has hosted SummerSlam three times to date: 1988, 1991, and 1998
Staples Center hosted SummerSlam six years in a row: 2009–2014 and the tagline was California Sun
Barclays Center hosted SummerSlam four years in a row: 2015–2018