The Summer Spectacular has given wrestling fans many memories throughout the years. In this two part series, Sean Beckerman looks back at the greatest matches in SummerSlam history. Part One features the Early Years (1988 – 1997) of the event known as the “Mania of Summer.” Back in 1988, the World Wrestling Federation was exploding nationally. Wrestlemania was well established and the previous year featured the launch of the Survivor Series. Now all the WWF needed was a massive event between the two Pay Per View’s so on 29th August 1988, Summerslam was born. It has gone on to become arguably the second biggest event of the year (close to the Royal Rumble). The early years featured several firsts in the history of the WWE. Some examples of this include being the first WWE PPV held outside of North America, the first WWE PPV held outdoors, the only PPV where the WWE offered a million dollar grand prize to one lucky viewer, and the only wrestling PPV where the main event was not a wrestling match. So get ready to relive the history of the Summer Sizzler and go Beyond The Bell.

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