Top 5 most memorable SummerSlam moments of all time

This Sunday marks the WWE’s 29th annual mega-event SummerSlam.  It’s WWE’s biggest event of the summer and over the three decades it’s spanned there have been some very memorable moments! Here’s a few that top that list.

5) HONKY TONK MAN vs. THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR
August of 1988 marked the very first SummerSlam and the Honky Tonk Man was in the midst of the longest WWE Intercontinental Champion reign of all time. As his entrance theme stated he was “cool, cocky and bad”, so cocky in fact he was willing to take on a mystery opponent that turned out to be The Ultimate Warrior. The Warrior would surprise HTM and end his championship reign in just 31 seconds.

Even funnier is the behind-the-scenes story in which Wayne Ferris (who played Honky Tonk Man) requested the match be short because he believed Jim Hellwig (The Ultimate Warrior) was careless and dangerous to be in the ring with for long periods of time.

4) HULK HOGAN VS. SHAWN MICHAELS
It was the icon of the 80s versus the showstopper of the 90s at the 2005 SummerSlam event. Fans were treated to an incredible build-up to the match with interviews featuring Shawn Michaels imitating the once great Hulk Hogan, who was thought to be over the hill. During the in-ring competition Hogan ended up bloodied, a site rarely seen in the WWE. However, in the end the “Immortal One” would prevail and prove despite his age he was able to put a stop to the show defeating the Heartbreak Kid.

More intriguing was the behind-the-scenes stories of this match in which Hogan accused Michaels of making him look foolish in the ring by bouncing his body around every time Hogan would hit him.

3) THE MEGA-BIKINI!
The Beautiful Miss Elizabeth was the fantasy of nearly every young man watching professional wrestling in the 1980s and at SummerSlam 1988 they got to see more of her than they could ever imagine.

Sure it was a big deal that this was the first time The Mega-Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) would compete as a tag team on television… Sure, their opponents of Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant had a catchy name as The Mega Bucks and seemed that they would do anything to win the match… Sure, the deck was stacked against the Mega-Powers with the evil Jesse Ventura as the special guest referee of this main event tag match, but when it comes right down to it the moment everyone remembers is Miss Elizabeth shedding her skirt to reveal a bikini bottom providing the distraction to allow the Mega-Powers to get the big win.

2) BRET HART VS. DAVEY BOY SMITH @ WEMBLEY STADIUM
Over 80,000 people (according to WWE numbers) piled into Wembley Stadium on August 29, 1992 to see their native son “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith take on his real life brother-in-law Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

This was a rare event where the WWE Heavyweight Title was not being defended in the main event, but instead these two headlined fighting for The Intercontinental Championship and they delivered. The match lasted over 25 minutes, delighting Wembley fans who saw their hometown son defeat the Canadian hero to hold the gold high at the end of the night. Undoubtedly this is the greatest match of the late Davey Boy Smith’s career.

1) THE MACHO WEDDING
QUESTION: What’s better than an August Wedding?  
ANSWER: A fictional August Wedding for a couple that is already married (and having some marital problems behind the scenes) which just happens to take place inside a wrestling ring, of course.

The Macho Wedding was by no means the first wrestling wedding and it certainly would not be the last, but it is definitely the most memorable. It also served as a reminder to all future brides to be careful when opening wedding gifts as you never know what you’re going to get.