In the 1980s, Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade pay-per-view, which began airing in 1983, by making the WrestleMania franchise. After WrestleMania III, the most successful professional wrestling pay-per-view event in history, McMahon made the Survivor Series franchise, which aired the same day as Starrcade '87 in November 1987. After defeating Crockett in the ratings, McMahon made the Royal Rumble, an event airing for free on the USA Network in January 1988, which set a ratings record for the network with eight million households tuning in to watch the event. In retaliation, Crockett made the Clash of the Champions event, which aired simultaneously with WrestleMania IV. WrestleMania IV garnered higher ratings, and not long after, Crockett filed for bankruptcy and sold his company to Ted Turner, who renamed it World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
As the WWF continued to replace its closed circuit programming with pay-per-view programming, McMahon added more pay-per-views to the lineup to capitalize on the success of his previous events. In addition to WrestleMania in March, the Royal Rumble in January, and Survivor Series in November, McMahon made an event for August, which he named SummerSlam. To keep the WWF from having a pay-per-view market monopoly, Turner began airing monthly WCW pay-per-views, and both companies began bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. SummerSlam became one of World Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Entertainment, and eventually just WWE)'s most successful events and one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble. Those four events, along with King of the Ring, are known as the "Classic Five".
As the WWF continued to replace its closed circuit programming with pay-per-view programming, McMahon added more pay-per-views to the lineup to capitalize on the success of his previous events. In addition to WrestleMania in March, the Royal Rumble in January, and Survivor Series in November, McMahon made an event for August, which he named SummerSlam. To keep the WWF from having a pay-per-view market monopoly, Turner began airing monthly WCW pay-per-views, and both companies began bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. SummerSlam became one of World Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Entertainment, and eventually just WWE)'s most successful events and one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble. Those four events, along with King of the Ring, are known as the "Classic Five".In honour of this years epic SummerSlam I'd like to list a few of my favourite SummerSlam moments of all time! In my personal opinion, these are the top 10 SummerSlam matches, in order:
10. Kurt Angle vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (2001)
9. Owen Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (1997)
8. Steel Cage: Bret Hart vs Owen Hart (1994)
7. Ladder Match: Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon (1995)
6. TLC: Edge and Christian vs The Hardyz vs The Dudley Boyz (2000)
5. Bret Hart vs The British Bulldog (1992)
4. The Rock vs Brock Lesnar (2002)
3. Shawn Michaels vs Triple H (2002) - Return Of HBK!
2. Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake vs Randy Savage and Zeus (1989) - Zeus!
1. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase and André the Giant (1988)
Miss Elizabeth Rips Off Her Skrit!
Bonus
August 15, 2004 - Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
I WAS THERE!!!
I WAS THERE!!!
   | http://whatculture.com/tv/10-greatest-wwe-summerslam-matches.php |
No comments:
Post a Comment