When I began high school in 1998, like many people in America, I was a giant pro-wrestling fan. I still am, but it's hard to beat anyone's fandom in 1998.
Like wrestling podcast giant Conrad Thompson frequently says, we have our friends, and then we have our "wrestling friends." Those are people that we talk about wrestling with all the time. That's still true today, but back in 1998, when EVERYONE watched wrestling, they were pretty much the same group.
That Fall, when I entered high school, I was extremely jealous of my two good friends, Joe and Andrew. A few weeks prior, they were able to attend the wrestling show of a lifetime (at the time) just 30 or 40 minutes away at Madison Square Garden. That night, SummerSlam 1998 was highlighted by a match that would cap off an amazing storyline between The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
As a lifelong WCW fan, I couldn't believe how invested I had become in "the enemy" (WWF). It was pretty cut and dry before the "Attitude Era" that you liked one company or the other but definitely not both. As the 90s wore on, that mostly went away as nearly everyone I knew flipped back and forth on Monday Nights between the rival promotions.
Being a WCW fan, I certainly did not see the 1996 Summer Slam event when it aired. I eventually saw bits and pieces, and it was fun for me to watch it in its entirety several years later in 2021 when I wrote the "25th Anniversary of SummerSlam 1996!"
Please check it out! Also, for you wrestling fans, don't forget to check out this year's SummerSlam event live on the Peacock Streaming Service TODAY, August 5th!
.png)
Comments