High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! SummerSlam (1988) was the first annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event. It was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and took place on August 29, 1988 in Madison Square Garden, located in New York, New York. The pay-per-view was created to help the company compete against rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (formerly 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. Reviews for the event were mixed.