The King Of Swing Posted April 11, 2025 Posted April 11, 2025 I actually have a copy of Wrestlemania III, that cuts out the Billy Jack blade job. It looks official enough at a glance but doesn't have the blue top that most WWF VHS tapes from that era had. No idea if it's a bootleg or not. Quote
davertfnewman Posted April 11, 2025 Posted April 11, 2025 Yeah, sadly there was a second version where it cuts from Billy stalking Bobby to Herc walking out with Gorilla going "Real stand-up kind of guy(!)". Was shitty. Quote
The Reverend Posted April 11, 2025 Posted April 11, 2025 One thing that my age-addled memory has dug-up after reading this awesome review, is that years ago I remember seeing a load of photos of the event taken by a fan. In one of them I'm 99% sure it showed that a fan leapt the ringside railings and got in the ring before getting grabbed by security. I can't ever recall hearing about it anywhere else, anyone else ever heard this? Quote
Chili Posted April 12, 2025 Posted April 12, 2025 (edited) 1 hour ago, The Reverend said: One thing that my age-addled memory has dug-up after reading this awesome review, is that years ago I remember seeing a load of photos of the event taken by a fan. In one of them I'm 99% sure it showed that a fan leapt the ringside railings and got in the ring before getting grabbed by security. I can't ever recall hearing about it anywhere else, anyone else ever heard this? So you can actually see this on the broadcast. After the Piper/Adonis match and Piper is alone in the ring after being declared winner, a fan taps his shoulder and he and Piper shake hands and Roddy even gives him a wee hug (fair play to Piper for handling it in the moment and sensing no danger), then security absolutely pounce on the lad and you can just about make it out in the background as Piper is heading off back down the aisle. https://wkfr.com/wrestlemania-3-photos/ That link sends you to some photos taken by a fan just to the left of the hard camera from the event. The fan invader pic is there. https://eu.detroitnews.com/picture-gallery/sports/2017/03/24/wrestlemania-iii-a-look-back-30-years-later/99552620/ The Detroit News also had a photographer there covering it with some cool photos. There is quite humourously another shot of a different fan being kicked out in those because I'm assuming there were absolutely ratted. God I love Wrestlemania III, I'd have loved if they had (maybe they did) some backstage cameras mooching about. That Mania IX doc is great looking, but I wish something like that existed for Mania III. The famous last row in the Silverdome shots taken by Tom Buchanan are some of the most famous and iconic photos ever taken, I'm not arsed how many people were actually there, there's just something regardless about the enormity of it that I always marvel at. Edited April 12, 2025 by Chili Quote
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 12, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted April 12, 2025 9 hours ago, The King Of Swing said: It looks official enough at a glance but doesn't have the blue top that most WWF VHS tapes from that era had. Lots of reprints from Silver Vision were like that, no doubt it was a cost cutting measure. I have plenty, you can tell they were reprints because despite being older PPVs, the inside sleeve didn’t have the full display of all the old shows from 88-92, Collectors Series etc, it just shows the 4-5 latest PPV tapes, circa SummerSlam 93. Quote
Paid Members garynysmon Posted April 12, 2025 Paid Members Posted April 12, 2025 8 hours ago, Chili said: God I love Wrestlemania III, I'd have loved if they had (maybe they did) some backstage cameras mooching about. That Mania IX doc is great looking, but I wish something like that existed for Mania III. The famous last row in the Silverdome shots taken by Tom Buchanan are some of the most famous and iconic photos ever taken, I'm not arsed how many people were actually there, there's just something regardless about the enormity of it that I always marvel at. Yeah, I know what you mean. Like many here I didn’t start watching until a few years after the fact, but even in the early 90’s the WWF would still refer back to that massive stadium show in front of 93,000 (!) which always felt like the pinnacle of the company. I bought that History of Wrestlemania tape they put out before WM X and it looked like a different stratosphere to the high school gym tapings the WWF were doing by then. In reality its best years at the box office came a year or two later in 1989/90, but WM III has always been imprinted in my mind as probably the mecca. Obviously stadium shows are almost old hat by now and the company has gone through horrible phases of discarding the past and claiming everything that was happening at the time was the dog’s bollocks and best ever. But a bit like Tony Soprano, watching in 1993/94 it felt like I was coming into wrestling a little after the fact, after that massive event, and never totally shook that feeling off either. Quote
The Reverend Posted April 14, 2025 Posted April 14, 2025 On 4/12/2025 at 1:20 AM, Chili said: So you can actually see this on the broadcast. After the Piper/Adonis match and Piper is alone in the ring after being declared winner, a fan taps his shoulder and he and Piper shake hands and Roddy even gives him a wee hug (fair play to Piper for handling it in the moment and sensing no danger), then security absolutely pounce on the lad and you can just about make it out in the background as Piper is heading off back down the aisle. https://wkfr.com/wrestlemania-3-photos/ That link sends you to some photos taken by a fan just to the left of the hard camera from the event. The fan invader pic is there. https://eu.detroitnews.com/picture-gallery/sports/2017/03/24/wrestlemania-iii-a-look-back-30-years-later/99552620/ The Detroit News also had a photographer there covering it with some cool photos. There is quite humourously another shot of a different fan being kicked out in those because I'm assuming there were absolutely ratted. God I love Wrestlemania III, I'd have loved if they had (maybe they did) some backstage cameras mooching about. That Mania IX doc is great looking, but I wish something like that existed for Mania III. The famous last row in the Silverdome shots taken by Tom Buchanan are some of the most famous and iconic photos ever taken, I'm not arsed how many people were actually there, there's just something regardless about the enormity of it that I always marvel at. Thanks @Chili - really appreciate that. And big thanks for those links, that's where I had originally seen it. Not surprising that someone thought it was the perfect place to get in the ring, big enough frigging audience. Those photos are great though - what an event. The card may not be that great, but if I could attend any event in history put me down for WMIII - the atmosphere must have been amazing. Quote
Ro_y Disco Posted April 14, 2025 Posted April 14, 2025 Fantastic sets of photos! Something I noticed & had never thought about before is all the fans with binoculars. No wonder looking at the photos of the arena and the big screens which wouldn't be much help, but you really would be going for the atmosphere if you were in the nosebleeds. Quote
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 5, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 5, 2025 (edited) WRESTLEMANIA IV (1988) The One With Two Tapes Once more, the landscape of pro wrestling on PPV has changed. We have engaged in a brutal tit-for-tat battle between the big 2. Not to be confused with tit-for-tit, we'll come onto that later. Vince has decided he wants to be the king of wrestling on PPV and he wants to play dirty. After intentionally launching Survivor Series as a new PPV and running it the same night as Starrcade, the first stumbling block was that JCP did the sensible thing and moved the start time of their PPV to an earlier kick off so people could actually watch both if so inclined, and in the spirit of competition the audience needn't have been split. Enraged by this apparent show of goodwill, VKM put it to the PPV carriers that they could choose their destiny - any carrying Starrcade would immediately lose Survivor Series AND the golden egg, WrestleMania. This was disastrous for Starrcade's buyrate, but Junior wasn't stopping there. With a subsequent PPV, Bunkhouse Stampede '88 scheduled for January 24, 1988, Vinny Mac launched another offensive. The first Royal Rumble aired the same night to split the audience again, a special on the USA Network, setting a record for the highest viewed wrestling program on cable TV - an 8.2 share. The Stampede did poorly on PPV but I suspect even more goodwill was lost when a shitload of fans turned up for a 7.30 bell - because that's what was printed on the tickets - only to find the show had started at 6.30. LOLWCW LOLJCP. Jimmy decided he could play Vince’s game so March 27th 1988 the first Clash of the Champions aired, in direct competition for viewers with WrestleMania IV. In response to learning this was happening, McMahon countered by booking the Omni in Atlanta for a closed circuit viewing of Mania, striking right at the heart of what we’ll come to call WCW. Draw your own conclusions, but either way this was the last time either company aired anything to compete directly with the others PPV. CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE Here's something I'd like to drop in going forward, wherever any plans (or announced matches) have, to my knowledge, been amended before the final card. Or to bust some myths therein. Bruce Prichard says September 87 is when they started talking about Randy Savage getting the big belt with Hogan going off in the late spring to make a movie. That film would be No Holds Barred, with all the inherent implications for 1989 in the ring and a plan for Hogan vs Zeus for Mania VI which was abandoned pretty much as soon as they got Tiny near a ring. An extra interesting note would be that "No Holds Barred : The Match/The Movie" would be a PPV on 27/12/89 which anyone that bought The 3rd Annual Survivor Series from Silver Vision like me already knows, making 1989 rather than 1991 the first year there were 5 PPVs from the WWF. Vince added the PPV to desperately try and suck extra value from his self-financed film, which had flopped. And today I learned that "Jake Bullet" was not just Kryten's alter ego in Back To Reality, but the name of Ax's character in No Holds Barred. I've never seen one before, no-one has, but I'm guessing it's a White Hole. Marcus Bagwell was an extra in it too, did you know? And finally - japes! - on the 13/10/97 Raw, Vince told the world "Hogan promised me that if the movie lost money, he was gonna return his salary. I guess the cheque is still in the mail." Of course, you'd never stiff someone on bunse owed, right Jr? Why is this "card subject to change"? Ted DiBiase says he was promised the title for Mania IV. Him buying the title to walk it into the show for Hogan to win it off him would have made perfect sense if Hogan wasn't going to be off, but he was, and Teddy winning it legit AT Mania (as he seems to think was the plan) to hold it until Hogan returned seems unlikely. Pat Patterson is the man he gives credit to coming up with the Million Dollar Belt out of arrogance in the fallout from not winning THE belt and Ted concedes it was "a stroke of genius" and a lot of fun to work with. Why that change came about is highly contentious. Honky Tonk Man loves to tell the story that they wanted him to lose the ICT to Randy on The Main Event and there were zero plans for him afterwards e.g. the end of him getting a cheque, and he insisted "there's a hundred different finishes but getting pinned clean in the middle isn't one of them" or words to that effect. Bruce insists Honky did not renege on a finish otherwise he wouldn't have stayed on top any longer ; makes sense, right? Cousin Wayne probably didn't think he could hold the title forever and he just made this up for a good shoot interview. But he likes to add that because Savage wasn't getting the ICT back, they ended up giving him the big belt to make it up to him and that version seems to have reached DiBiase. Do we really think they altered the future course of the WWF title because Honky refused to do a job in February? My arse did they. Other matches considered for the PPV according to Observers prior were a standalone grudge match between Ricky Steamboat and Rick Rude before they decided not to detract from the talent pool for the tournament, and the Bulldogs vs Islanders as a straight tag blow off, before Vince decided Heenan in the dog suit was too funny a visual not to put on. Finally of note, when Zenk left and the Can-Ams bit the dust, they considered the Harts simply holding the titles all the way through to Mania to drop them directly to Demolition, but ultimately rejected heels vs heels on PPV. As a further aside to No Holds Barred and Vince’s desperate forays into any ventures not directly connected to promoting professional wrestling matches, there are several shots of Sugar Ray Leonard in the crowd for Mania IV - as buyers of the SummerSlam 88 tape will recall, Jr is promoting one of his fights later in the year. Random. What was typically going on at house shows in the build-up? Quote ITS WRESTLEMANIA SEASON!!! Get your double VHS out. We kick off the big shows in real Mania mood, 4th March in Phoenix it’s Hogan & Hacksaw vs Andre & DiBiase, then 5th at the Cow Palace (8500) Virgil in the match with Andre seconding, and the same 6th in LA. Andre’s pinning Bam Bam dark at Nashville TVs on 7th in a rare singles match about 3 minutes long. 8th and 9th TVs in Bristol TN and Winston-Salem it’s Hulkster & Bigelow over Ted and Andre. 12th afternoon in Landover Andre pins Bam Bam and for some reason Hogan pins Virgil with the Million Dollar Man in his corner instead of wrestling, then that night in Philly the Hulk beats DiBiase in a lumberjack match with Andre “banned from ringside” which is funny because he isn’t even in the building. That particular show has the Bomb Angels vs Glamour Girls match from the High Flyers tape. 15,000 come to Copps Coliseum on 13th for Hulk & Bam Bam vs Ted & Virg, Bigelow pinning our favourite manservant. 18,000 at the Montréal forum (in honour of Mad Dog) on the 14th for Hogan and Bam Bam versus Andre and Teddy, 18th in Houston, we are back to Hulk and Hacksaw v Ted and the Giant because Bigelow has just done his knee, 19th in Cape Girardeau and 20th in Springfield after TV is the same, Ted getting pinned by Hogan again. That’s it before Mania for the big dogs!! Toledo on the 4th we’re back to Savage & Strike Force vs Honky & the Harts in a cage - interestingly the Jumping Bombs Angels beat the Glamour Girls in separate singles matches again here. Fun fact - Yamazaki settled in the States and owned a restaurant in New York for a while called GO Sushi. On the 5th at Boston Garden we have the same, the famous one immortalised on Coliseum, and again in Portland on 6th, Sioux Falls on 10th, Chicago on 12th, 13th in Cincinnati and at the Silverdome, 15th in Dayton, 16th in Pittsburg KS and 17th in Oklahoma City. In other work for top of the middle, a fundraiser at Methuan (MA) High School on the 6th has Jake the Snake with Strike Force for the six man tag. Honky works Jake and loses non-title at Nashville TVs then in Bristol and Winston-Salem early in the month and 20th in Springfield there’s a great tag of Savage & Brutus vs the would-be Rhythm & Blues. 14th at the Meadowlands, Honkys going over Ricky Steamboat but then is the last out by Jake in the show closing battle royal, Savage v Gang, Strike Force v Bolsheviks, Harts vs Bees and Jake v Hercules underneath. Randy also headlines with Herc 19th in Lake Charles and 20th in Lafayette. The Harts work the Rougeaus again who’ll they be with come summer, 7th in Bennington, 8th in Burlington and 9th in Watertown NY, and 14th they get beat by Ultimate Warrior and Don Muraco in Manchester NH. THE OPEN A rather lovely graphic appears of a big fruit machine in ancient Roman style bearing the Trump Plaza name where the display spins to reveal the WrestleMania logo and a bunch of WWF logo coins spill out all while the same theme plays from the intro of “The WWF, what the world is watching” (that took me too many years to realize it was Gene Okerlund under the echo effect). Cut to a shot of the convention centre - it's 27th Match 1988, and the crowd are making more noise than I remember. Nice looking venue but because of how flat the seating is, there's only a 20,000 gate. Okerlund himself welcomes us to “the greatest wrestling spectacular of all time” (we’ll see) and introduces the Empress Of Soul, Gladys Knight, to sing America The Beautiful. You may know her best from singing License To Kill, unless you’re getting Bond wrong. We cut rather hurriedly to the aisle where the trophy is being brought to the ring for the battle royal, which Gorilla Monsoon tells us is going to be a happening, closely followed by the Hart Foundation and numerous concealed others following. We cut upstairs for eyes on Monsoon, with suddenly far less hair than a year ago and looking exactly how I always remember him, and Jesse Ventura sporting a cowboy hat and presumably an onion on his belt, as was the style at the time. Monsoon reminds us already “This is going be undoubtedly the greatest wrestling extravaganza of all time” (we’ll see) and goes over the tournament, The Barber going for the ICT and Demolition for the tag title (“It’s going to be a happening”) before they welcome Mr Baseball, Bob Uecker to the desk for the second Mania running - “First time I’ve had an option renewed” he quips which you don’t need to be an avid baseball fan to be amused by. He also calls Monsoon Gino which surprises me as I thought that nickname had disappeared from Federation TV by now. I can almost hear McMahon barking at his staff “Why are any of you calling this man Gino? Gino’s an ordinary man - this is GORILLA MONSOON, he’s a monster, God damn it!” (1) 20 MAN BATTLE ROYAL Change is in the air for the roster here - there’s Ron Bass, The Young Stallions and Boris Zhukov is in and Sheiky Baby is out as Nikolai’s partner. Ken Patera’s fresh out of jail and the muted reaction to him is either sad or hilarious depending on your viewpoint. There's a moment during this match where Uecker mentions his excitement when "I got the call from Vince McMahon" inviting him to be part of Mania again... this is the oldest show I recall any suggestion that Vince had more say in the affairs than just doing the commentary on Superstars. I don’t have a whole lot to say about the match - it’s shit, as most battles royal are. George “The Animal” Steele (ugh) in his final Mania “match” if you can call it that, doesn’t even get in the ring seeming to not understand the concept (hey, it at least makes more sense than the Steel Cage Bunkhouse Stampede) but happily interfering on wrestlers that DID get in the ring. You cunt. The Rougeaus haven’t turned yet but there’s some hostility with the Killer Bees during this match where both Bees and Ray end up out, which will play out in at least one TV match Jacques & Raymond will win by cheating. About halfway through the commentators are shit-chatting about Vanna White because they’re seemingly bored of the match (who can blame them) and The Body raises the second decent laugh of the show by claiming she only agreed to the show if she could have a date with him and in mock outrage says Jack Tunney didn’t even ask him. Almost simultaneously Steele pulls Anvil out from the floor - erm, fuck off? Patera gets a good pop for dumping Nikolai then Boris before the former pulls him out from the floor ; another example of what I always considered (appropriate for this post) “The Bad News Brown Rule” - as seen with The Fridge at Mania 2 and George moments earlier - that it doesn’t matter if you’re out by someone already eliminated, if you hit the floor, you hit the floor. So, Macho Man shouldn’t have been allowed back in the ring in the 1992 Rumble (it was not fair to Flair, among others), and Shawn Michaels definitely didn’t win in 1996. Glad we cleared that up. Steele tries to get into it with the Bolsheviks and sadly doesn’t get battered, I believe this is where he’s finally ushered out. There’s a nice callback to last years feud with Junkyard Dog and King Harley exchanging headbutts before JYD sends Race toppling backwards over the rope ; that leaves him with Bret, Bad News and oh so briefly Paul Roma who News dumps. JYD holds his only briefly before Bret and Bad News (old Stampede rivals) circle and double team him and eventually toss him out. The two parade around for a bit, apparently agreeing to split the purse (which covering WCW recently I’ve found out has been permitted on occasion - LOLWCW), but Bad News reneges and clobbers Hitman with the Ghetto Blaster which I used to think was the balls. He unnecessarily turnbuckles Bret then throws him out, I think it would have been more impactful to just do it straight after his finish to be honest. Bret looks an absolute wally here, which is interesting because he (and indeed Jim) are about to be booked as babyfaces virtually overnight with TV angles that start with them getting pissed off over The Mouth of The South's interference and ordering him away from ringside, and Bret going on the road with Bad News in the annual run of testing the waters for him as a singles act on the house shows.Hart dropkicks Bad News out of the ring while the latter is caught admiring his trophy (which would look right at home in a Harlem “ghetto” right?), then proceeds to smash it up. Obviously pissed off the trophy isn’t spending six months of the year in the Dungeon or next to that electric chair thingy. Atlantic City (baby) seems to like it, even as Brets biggest fan I thought it made him look like a sore loser watching it the first time, and I still do. It’s an odd course all round for Bad News too going 50/50 with Bret and doing time limit draws up and down the country considering he’s going to have feuds with both Hogan AND Savage - the latter, for the belt - over the next 12 months or so. Match was nothing, let's move on. Uecker bails out to begin his search for Vanna, which is going to get old quick. Fink introduces Robin Leach from Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous to read a proclamation about the tournament which is clearly written by someone who thinks they’re smarter than they are and goes overboard with the word “whereas” before Robin concludes with “with champagne wishes and caviar dreams, may the best man win, I’m Robin Leach and I do know why.” Umm… what?? Prior to the start proper, doubt must be creeping in as Monsoon says this will be only “Possibly and probably the greatest wrestling extravaganza of all time.” … we’ll see. Some horrible foreboding as Gorilla runs off the time limits for each round and that a draw eliminates both men. (2) (WWFHTTR1) HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN VS MILLION DOLLAR MAN I'd love to call this the round of 16, but of the 14 blokes contesting it, 2 have been given a bye to the quarters so technically it's a round of 12. Duggan out first to a decent reaction, I’m starting to think my tape had been worn out before I was gifted it by a mate, the crowd sounds nowhere near as dead as I remember. I’d experience similar sound degradation with several tapes I’d purchase brand new - Survivors 89, Rumble 91, Fully Loaded 98. Let’s not forget, Hacksaw comes into this off the back of winning the first Royal Rumble on USA, arguably he’s probably coming in, relatively speaking, with more momentum than Jey Uso went into 41 with. Teddy comes out without “Money Money Money Money” which is always a bit weird. Andre the Giant is in his corner as well as Virgil, I’m surprised we don’t get any chirping from Gorilla about “managers licenses” - we’ll get to that in a later post. Jesse says it’s a typical wrestler vs brawler match. Duggan has the early edge including a clothesline and atomic drop sending Ted front flipping over the rope to which Gino says he's surprised Andre didn't try and catch him. 10 punches in the corner but off an Irish Whip into the buckles Hacksaw charges into a boot from DiBiase. Fairly generic heel beatdown commences including an elbow strike from the middle rope, Duggan gets a surprise sunset flip which has The Body exclaim "I can't believe Hacksaw Jim Duggan was capable of a move like that!" LOL. Ted gets back on top with his distinctive fistdrop. Reversing a suplex gets Duggan another moment of respite but the tide really turns when Teddy jumps off the middle strand again and gets turned inside out with a punch to the gut. Duggan rallies and seems on the verge of victory but when he gets down to the three point stance, Andre trips him. Dumbass Duggan starts tussling with Andre so the Million Dollar Man strikes with a knee to the back at the exact moment the Giant punches him in the face, one more fistdrop later an DiBiase covers for three to advance to the quarters. We’ve moved on in production terms, it’s just straight to Finkel announcing the winner from ringside without everyone standing around waiting for him. From the replay I don't understand how the ref hasn't seen the actions of Andre, but then again it's John Bonello so this is far from the worst incompetence we'll see from him tonight. It's a bit weak looking on Hacksaw (even though I hate him) that those last moves kept him down for the pin without any ropes or tights, but whatever. It's not as bad as I remember but still, unless you're a fan of the era and simply must see the only WWF PPV match between the two, it's not really worth revisiting. Overall, you probably are better off watching something off Fully Loaded 98. Gene Okerlund is backstage with future Mania main eventer The Barber, and either he's a rubbish promo at this point or the coke just has too strong a grip on him. He implies that the hedgeclippers are going to be what he uses to cut Jimmy Hart's hair, which makes no sense. (3) (WWFHTTR1) DON MURACO VS DINO BRAVO In the ring is Dino Bravo complete with " La Marseillaise" playing and managed by Frenchy Martin - we get it, he's French (Canadian). Still "Canada's Strongest Man" here rather than "the self-proclaimed World's Strongest Man". Muraco comes out next with Superstar Billy Graham, "Jesus Christ Superstar" is dubbed over with some horrendous Roman gladiatorial march theme which really doesn't fit. Monsoon talks about "The Rock" learning much from Graham - umm, the bloke was Intercontinental champ twice on his own and knocked off Pedro Morales so he must have been decent to begin with, right? Jesse says he's picked up so much he's wearing tye dye and claims to be the originator then postulates that if he taught Superstar everything he knows then Billy must be teaching The Rock everything that he (Ventura) knows. Monsoon counters that Graham was (W)WWF champ and Ventura never managed it, but The Body insists “I didn’t go for it as hard” and “he beat an easy champion” at which Monsoon scoffs. Sorry Jess, Bruno Sammartino (who they don’t mention by name) was easy? I’m glad Gorilla huffed at the thought, there’s a time when Vince in his earpiece would have encouraged him to double down on it. Muraco is in killer shape and Monsoon observes “He didn’t look that good when he was Intercontinental Champion” - I think the longer Don was in the WWF the more ripped he got, right up until his release. Gorilla makes reference that if it wasnt for Muraco, Graham would have ended up in a wheelchair "at the hands of the Gang and The Natural" which was how they wrote Billy out when they realised he'd conned his way into getting a wrestler cheque and could barely fucking walk. Don starts off early with and Bravo bumps fairly good for him off a backdrop, "The Rock" is even more mobile than when "Magnificent" bounced around against Mr Wonderful for 3 minutes at Mania 2. Attempted corner slingshot splash (Vaderbomb) is miscued and Don just kind of slides into a pin attempt which looks a bit naff. Bravo gets the edge, I know he was rubbish but his elbowdrops always looked good because he got off the ground for a big lad. Gutwrench suplex is also decent but he runs his own knee into the buckle and Muraco starts working on it until Bravo kicks him off into the ropes and he gets his head tangled between top and bottom. He presses the advantage “using the Rocks hold, the piledriver!” according to Gorilla but its a bit of a misnomer as Bravo uses a traditional one whereas Muraco always went home with what we'd come to call the Tombstone. Bravo takes too long covering and only gets 2, soon Muraco is back at it with a flying forearm, but when he goes for a second the ref takes the hit. Bravo hits the "side suplex" as they always called it (its the sidewalk slam) but the ref just calls for the bell - replay will make it clear the ref took the damage because Dino pulled him in the way. Well, that wasn't bright, was it? Again, better than I remember but still not worth putting yourself through a Bravo match. Their SummerSlam match is better because it's shorter, but Bravo wins that one, so please don't watch it. We go backstage and Bob rambles on about Vanna before he’s interrupted by Honky and the Colonel who subtly strong arm their way into some promo time about the Beefcake match. Honk looks even more slappable than last year, and closes his comments with something about “back stroke up the Mississippi River” which best I can tell, flows nowhere near Atlantic City. OK. (4) (WWFHTTR1) RICKY STEAMBOAT VS GREG VALENTINE I remember this being boring as sin, let’s see how we get on. It’s fairly cynical booking in terms of the bracket, to dangle the tantalising prospect of a Steamboat/Savage rubber match (them being 1-1 in pinfall terms in two of the first four WWF PPVs) and then denying us one. Hammer introduced already in the ring, back with Jimmy Hart having been managed by Lou Albano, Hart AND Johnny Valiant in the time since he was IC Champion himself. At least he’s divorced from Bravo, but we’ll get to that shortly. The overdub of Sirius signals the entrance of The Dragon, and maybe it’s my volume being too low but initially I can only hear the drum beat and it sounds like The Bushwhackers are coming down. Probably still better than his later WCW theme! He’s carrying with him Richard Jr/Richie, who’s about 9 months old here, referred to only as “that youngster” by Monsoon or the “Little Dragon” by Fink and his ring jacket. Jesse says he has “cheeks fatter than Bundy” which is a great line, Gorilla thinks he’s thinking “I don’t understand what’s going on here but this is some kind of a happening and I’m part of it” - I doubt it, Gino. Early armdrags and arm work by Steamboat countered by roughneck tactics by the Hammer who Gorilla reminds us won’t be thrilled with a 15 minute time limit as sometimes “it takes him that long to get warmed up.” Skin the cat and a dropkick to the back by Ricky as always looks great. During the early exchanges Ventura mentions Barry Blaustein is picking The Dragon to go all the way, Monsoon betrays himself as out of touch by saying “Who?” although in fairness Coming To America isn’t due out in the cinema for another couple of months. Hammer takes the advantage back with a knee to the gut and takes over, during one bump Dr Monsoon reels off “external occipital protuberance” and Jesse says “the back of the head, for all you normal people out there.” Couple of shots of Donald Trump and Marla Maples watching on, glad it’s not a better match that seeing Trump might ruin for me. Figure 4 is twice foiled by a kick off and a chop to the head, presumably they know the small package is to kept in reserve for later. The Dragon fires back though nearly gets pinned overcompensating on a bodyslam. He hits a reverse elbow and a chop from the top rope, “Just cover him Rick” says Monsoon earning him an accusation of bias from The Body who insists “I get enough of that from McMahon” - LOL. When Steamboat goes back up, Valentine rolls through the bodypress for the pin ; Monsoon suspects a handful of tights but it’s not clear. After Valentine & The Mouth leave, Ricky sure looks like he’s waving goodbye to the crowd, which of course he is ; that’s it for him here until 1991. Match wasn’t as dull as I remember, probably because it wasn’t as long as I remember, but still not fun. For me, Ricky always provided the steak but he needed heels with sizzle - someone whose character meant you were desperate to see get beat. Which is why he worked so well with Ric Flair, and well… to say Hammer wasn’t quite at that level, really would not be fair to Flair. Thus ends the initial run of Manias for the Dragon with a record of 3-1... until XXV, of course. Backstage Mean Gene gets words from Koko and the Bulldogs - Dyno mentions Matilda has been through special weasel training and Davey says she’ll be weasel hunting for weasel Heenan. Bizarre. So… the mention of Valentines split with Bravo is a story you might already know, and it’s about the Matilda storyline - the “dognapping” storyline was originally pitched to The New Dream Team. Now, in his own words Greg hated teaming with Bravo from the start because he felt like they had no chemistry. When he heard about the dognapping he declared he hated it, he wasn’t doing it, and he was quitting. As soon as wheels were put in motion for the Bulldogs to work the Islanders instead, and to move on from the Dream Team by putting Bravo in singles with Frenchy as his manager, Valentine “was persuaded” to stay and go back to Jimmy Hart managing him. Hence why you stopped seeing Valiant after Survivor Series and the first tapings thereafter Bravi was with Martin and the Hammer back with The Mouth. There you have it… by his own account, Valentine used Matilda as an excuse to not tag with Dino Bravo anymore. (5) (WWFHTTR1) RANDY SAVAGE VS BUTCH REED The Natural is already in the ring with Slick. I’ve no idea why WWE wouldn’t have the rights to Jive Soul Bro but the overdub sounds like a WCW instrumental of Bad by Michael Jackson, which is very funny. Randy & “the First Lady of wrestling” come down in matching blue and Jesse implores Gorilla not to be “like McMahon” over Liz, and The Body tells him “You’re drooling so much you look like Matilda.” Monsoon says he thinks Macho Man has the endurance to wrestle multiple matches in one night (as though he didn’t commentate on The Wrestling Classic and already know it to be the case). Ventura has a little vent on the Savage “bandwagon” of the announcers and said he’s been talking up Randys greatness for 2-3 years longer than the rest of the announcers - give The Body credit, he played the long game and never wavered in his praise for Macho Man even during Savage’s babyface stretch, presumably because he already knew Savage would be a baddie again by Mania V. I remember this match being much of a nothing until the finish, let’s see. I was confused seeing Reed the first time as to me “The Natural” was already embedded in me as Dustin Rhodes. He takes early advantage including a snapmare and a nice fistdrop, Savage comes back but his suplex attempt is reversed and Butchi gets good height off a running elbow drop. They run down the relative pros and cons of the various managers and Jess says “I wouldn’t want to stand back to back with Elizabeth in a fight” and when Gorilla says Liz is trustworthy, Ventura asks “You wouldn’t buy a car from Slick?” - ROFL. Concerned look on Elizabeth’s face, I reckon she might be at the peak of her “loveliness” here, and I feel well old when I realize she’s only 27 or 28 here. They run down the confirmed bracket so far for the quarters, Ventura describes The Hammer going over The Dragon as a mild upset, Gorilla agrees with him - so strange with the benefit of hindsight that they’re still putting Steamboat over on his way out the door. I guess that old school mentality of “Don’t burn bridges, you might end up with chance to do business again later” didn’t really die until much later. Butch hits a fistdrop from the second rope and Macho Man looks in jeopardy. I’ll say it again : “Titan” dropped the ball with Reed. He puts his head down and takes a boot which triggers Savages next attempt at offence but a reversed Irish whip sends him running back into a nice diving clothesline ; it’s been all “Natural.” Something we won’t be saying if I ever review Fully Loaded 98. Butch does some jawing to Liz and scales the ropes, doing himself no favours in the time wasting stakes. Savage darts over, slams Reed off the top (his mass visibly bounces, such is the impact) then wastes zero time of his own going up for the big flying elbow and capturing the pin. It might have been quick, but it sure wasn’t easy for Macho Man. Ventura realises aloud why Savage has Elizabeth with him, saying she distracted The Natural “maybe showing him a little leg or whatever” and that’s why Randy won. Nice little match either way. It actually served as a great showcase for Butch, it’s a real shame that the closest he got to even a hint at a second run in the WWF was getting name dropped in the “new Nation member” speculation on a 97 Raw. Short as it was I enjoyed it, no wasted motion, set up a nice piece of an over-arcing “Savage had a tough road to the final” story, definitely into “positive” enjoyment for the first match this Mania. Backstage Bob bluffs that he’s been chatting to Vanna then interviews The Brain and The Islanders. Heenan says to Uecker “You had over 700,000 votes to get in the Hall of Fame. You’da had a lot more than that, but you ran out of stamps.” LOL! (6) (WWFHTTR1) BAM BAM BIGELOW VS ONE MAN GANG I’ve been dreading this. Real turning point for the card. This is a second consecutive PPV meeting between this pair, Bam Bam having pinned Gang right before the conclusion to Hogans team vs Andres team at Survivors which made Bigelow look tough as anything. Bam Bam comes down with Oliver Humperdink for his manager (don’t get me started) and his first theme, a sax heavy quiz show intro that nevertheless I was gutted he didn’t resurrect when he turned face in 1995. Bigelow looks more of a snarling wide-eyed psycho here than he ever did later as a bad guy, maybe pre-match routines hit harder in the 80s? There are some cheers from his home state fans but the crowd are starting to sound burned out already. Gang attacks Bigelow with his back turned, and starts clobbering away. A billed 6’9 compared to 6’4, even adjusting for kayfabe Gang towers a bit over Bam Bam. Missed avalanche and a shoulder tackle from Triple B knocks the Gang off his feet less than a minute into the match. Bam Bam is overjoyed and does a cartwheel (which I find adorable) before going for a pin. Headbutt takes Gang down again, and Bammer does a falling one from the ropes. He signals for one more then bounces off the far side ropes but Slick pulls the top rope down with his cane so Bigelow takes a cracking tumble out of the ring. John Bonellos ring position was far from convincing in terms of not being able to see the flagrant interference, but it gets worse. OMG starts clubbering Bam Bam on the apron as he tries to get back in. Instead of getting inbetween and forcing Gang to break, stopping the count, as we’ve seen a hundred times, Bonello simply carries on counting as though it’s as black and white as “you’re out of the ring, pal” like in a video game and (rather hurriedly, for me) counts Bam Bam out. Bell rings, commentators unsure what happened. That’s the whole match. Bigelow finally gets back in and does another cartwheel which scares Gang away. Humperdink stands holding Bam Bams wrist ready to raise it thinking he’ll somehow be declared the winner - giving real “footy mum convinced the goal her wee lad was culpable for is going to be disallowed because the bigger boy obviously fouled him” energy - but Gang is announced the winner by virtue of the scandalous count out. I tell thee, as a kid watching this I wasn’t a huge Bam Bam fan - I was used to seeing him as a heel - but even then, this was the biggest load of bullshit and worst bit of refereeing I’d seen since I first saw Mania VI (patience). Fuming I was, daylight robbery. It was very weird use of Bam Bam considering how much of a big deal he’d been made to look recently, great record and regular tag partner of the Hulkster. He’ll carry on beating the Gang on the road for several months until an MSG match with Andre will make him decide “fuck this.” Bonello would later do prison time for offering money to (unbeknownst to him) an undercover bobby to murder his wife. So take heart that eventually justice was done for poor Bammer and Bonello got his day in court. Backstage Mean Gene is with Hulk Hogan and says it’s been difficult in recent months introducing him using “World Wrestling Federation Champion.” Hulk is even more cartoony in his bluster this year than last, kicking off with “Fee fi fo fum, Andre” and then absolutely losing himself to delusions about last years controversy claiming for a whole year he’s faced questions about “Is there any truth” that there was a controversial count (OK, we’ll let you have that one) and utter gibberish about “did you really” lift/slam the Andre and “Did you really beat the Giant?” Umm…. why would anyone ask those questions, it’s undisputed he slammed and beat the Giant? More than 75,000 people saw it with their own eyes, and at least a million more on PPV or CCTV, yet Hogan describes them like mythical events from his book which may or may not be true. After some extraordinary gumf about a fault line opening after he slams Andre again and Andre “and my next two opponents sink into the ocean,” he invites Donald to hang on to “the largest back in the world” and he’ll “dog paddle us backstroke to safety.” O……..K. https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/wrestlemania-iv/ But hey, if you'd like to watch a bit of wrestling as well as reading my blurb, The WWE Vault has The Main Event up ; What about that flying clothesline by The Hulkster?? (7) (WWFHTTR1) JAKE THE SNAKE VS RAVISHING RICK RUDE I should make it clear, this is just a match in the tournament, the “Cheryl on his tights” blood feud hasn’t started yet. Ravishing comes down with Bobby Heenan to his second entrance theme overdubbed (Really?? Still too close to “The Stripper” for the legal bods? How about leave it and see if anyone notices or cares?). I’m going to fume if this happens to Perfect later on. Ventura is great insisting on the importance of Rick winning the “Jesse The Body” Award. Rick gets on the mic and although it’s not the full patter yet about asking the “inner city sweathogs” (or my personal favourite, “Pennsylvania pissants”) to keep the noise down, he tells the “little boys” in attendance they’re taking “the gamble of your life” (nice touch) letting their ladies look at his ravishing body. It speaks of Rude’s influence when one of my last great memories of Sunny in the WWF was the homage to his spiel she did in the Manhattan Center the night LOD came back. “Snake Bit” brings down Jake, I see an inflatable Damian in the crowd which is a dead giveaway we’re edging closer to the first peak in terms of colourful characters and boundless commercialism. Comms seem convinced this is going to be a great match… we’ll see. They also tell us the winner faces the Gang in the quarterfinals… well, we’ll see. Opening exchanges feature duelling bodyslams (2 a piece) and Jake gets ahead with some arm work. Nice spot as Rude muscles him up onto the ropes and Roberts fires off with a kneelift from the second rope, DDT avoided and Rude bails out. Gorilla mentions The Brain being one of the most instrumental when Jimmy Hart tried to get the DDT banned (I love little details like that). Criss cross leads to another bodyslam from Jake but when he charges in for another kneelift Rude sends him upside down into the buckles - not the last time we’ll see that transition during this journey. Rick starts a series of applications of the reverse chinlock and The Body questions the wisdom of a wear down hold with a 15-minute time limit in the first round, Monsoon adds that the need to win four matches (for most of the field) to lift the title, it would be prudent to try and win as quickly as possible. After a nice clothesline and top rope flying punch from Ravishing gets a 2, he’s slapping the hold back on for (by my count) the fourth time. Snake executes a back suplex but Rude maintains his chinlock then deciding Roberts hasn’t got much left covers again for 2 before applying yet again. Jake eventually battles clear and fights back with punches and a biiiig backdrop. Short-arm clothesline is, as ever, a precursor to the DDT attempt but Rude shoves Jake into the buckles. Snake catches Rude coming in with a boot and nails a gut buster, but wearily he grabs a headlock and absorbs a back suplex counter, right as the comms team start speculating how close we are to the time limit. Ravishing is slow to cover and as both get up Gorilla says “whichever one should become victorious if either one does, then this match has taken a whole lot out of them” right as they do a double clothesline and the telegraphing starts but in fairness it’s hardly premature - Rude scoops the legs in the corner and puts his feet on the ropes, then just as Joey Marella counts one, the bell rings. It’s not that immediately obvious what happened as Fink announces “Here is the referee’s official decision ; he has ruled this bout a draw.” Without context, I bet that had a few scratching their heads in the crowd. Jake gets Damian out of the bag anyway to chase Rude and The Brain away as Monsoon spells out “the big guy, the 747 draws a bye, Jess.” Not as boring as I remember but both men would have plenty better matches including with each other. Two disappointing finishes in succession. Backstage Mean Gene is in front of the bracket board which looks like Cubs made it out of coloured paper, and he’s found Vanna White. She doesn’t know who Bob Uecker is (the closest that particular story comes to raising a laugh) but likes Hogan (“he’s so nice”) and Liz & Randy but doesn’t like Million Dollar Man trying to buy success. Gene again refers to “a surprise” re: Valentine advancing, they sure want to make Steamboat sound tough to beat on his last night, which is refreshing. (8) ULTIMATE WARRIOR VS HERCULES Herc looks gassed to fuck as he gets the “in the ring” intro, announced at 275lbs but let’s just say if Randy Orton, lanky as he is, was 290 for Mania 42… Herc must be touching 300 here. We’ve turned a bit of a corner here, people without music have started standing out compared to those who do. Warrior comes out for his first WrestleMania to the cut they’d eventually name “Unstable” - it’s not “The Warrior” by Scandal, but then few things are. He runs down the ramp (careful of the stairs, Jim!) and while clearly it’s not the pop he’ll end up receiving, he’s getting some traction in popularity already. With a sparkly headband on, Jim looks more like a gym nut/glam rocker hybrid than a fierce warrior, but thats not to say he isn't scary-looking. I remember Herc not being in a particularly good mood and knocking the stuffing out of Warrior in one of their matches, let's see if it was this one! Early exchanges of shoulder barges, Herc ducks a wild swing and hits three consecutive meaty clotheslines to knock Warrior off his feet (there you go) as Jesse opines a normal man would be taken down from “half a clothesline” from him. Short clothesline attempt by Herc merely pulls Warrior in for a clothesline of his own followed by the old Snake Eyes style drop across the top rope, eventually brawling makes its way to the floor. Back in the ring, more reverse knife edge chops and exchanged punches, Jim gets the edge briefly and goes for 10 in the corner but Herc responds with an inverted atomic drop. Warrior reverses a whip but misses a charge into the corner so Hercules attempts the full Nelson but his fingers are mostly in Jim’s hair. Warrior kicks off the buckle, Herc bridges but his shoulders are down and Warrior gets one of his up just as Earl Hebner counts the three. Cue some trademark wild gesticulation from Earl (ugh) to explain to Herc and The Brain that, in fact, Warrior has won. Herc tries to choke Jim with his chain as The Body talks about losing the battle but winning the war (shades of last year) but Warrior breaks loose and swinging the chain around his head, the baddies make a run for it. I’m going to shock you - that was alright. They kept it moving briskly and everything felt like it mattered. Never dreamed I’d say this when I started the project but Herc is an unsung hero of the early Manias. If you think the cut to the next segment feels a little off, it’s because there was an intermission removed for home video consumption. Shill shill shill! Nice little video package of the “water under the dam” between Hulk and Andre, including the build to Mania III and subsequent involvement of The Million Dollar Man during which Hogan says “Hell no” to selling him the title, Andre promises to deliver the belt of the “World World Wrestling Federation” - lot of mileage out of Andre’s dad jacket here - and finally what transpired at The Main Event. “Well significant” is how Gorilla describes this match in potentially deciding the overall winner. About the only thing they don't touch on about the rivalry is the two meeting at Survivor Series - but The Vault has that too! (9) (WWFHTTQF) HULK HOGAN VS ANDRE THE GIANT Nearly to the exact halfway point of the show which if, like me, you owned the tapes, you already knew. Andre comes down with both Ted DiBiase and Virgil which doesn’t sit well with Monsoon - there’s mention that Ted “owns Andre’s contract” which I suppose is meant to explain The Brain’s absence for Andre’s matches? By the next set of tapings Herman’s back at Andre’s side so I never really understood it, and it’s ludicrous that the only time in Andre’s three year stint as a heel that he wasn’t managed by the Weasel is when he won the title for a few minutes. Doesn’t seem fair to a friend of Flair. Real American gets Gorilla in gear, and I’m reminded of a comment I read on a tape review where a Hogan match from 85 has, unbeknownst to the viewer, had Eye Of The Tiger dubbed over with something inferior : “Hogan’s music was balls before Real American. It sounds like someone wanking on a keyboard.” Anyway, Hogan marches out, still 302lbs here so not 100% the classic Fink intro, Gorilla pops off “in my book, the greatest professional athlete in the world today, the Hulkster!” Andre attacks Hogan before the bell and we’re off and running!! Hulk rallies with three running forearm smashes and when DiBiase pops up on the apron we get the dreaded double noggin-knocker, and the Giant collapses to his knees. Four reverse knife edge chops from Hogan and Andre gets tied up in the ropes - they’re playing the greatest hits early! “Andre’s at Hogan’s mercy!” exclaims Ventura in disbelief as Hulk gets chance to finally tear his vest off before the Giant is freed by his entourage. As an aside, does anyone know why the predominantly right-handed Hogan liked to throw a knife edge with his left? Always confused me. More punches from the Hulkster cause Andre to drop once more. Hogan drops three elbow drops but on the third Andre grabs him in a choke and follows up on the downed Hogan with boots and by sitting on him. Thus far they’re keen to get more in, in a shorter time, and it’s fairly enjoyable to be honest. Boots and chokes and eventually the Andre standby, the trapezium squeeze hold. “Hulkster fading here” says Gorilla which triggers my muscle memory that I have to reach for the remote before I swap the tapes over. Funny, something very similar happens when during Fully Loaded 98 when Sable starts the sentence “And this is live TV…” I digress. Hogan gets gos arm up after it drops twice, in lieu of a full Hulk Up he fights his way free and rocks Andre with punches until a running clothesline sends the last champ utterly clattering into the corner. Our Terry motions he’s going to slam the Giant, Virgil immediately jumps up on the apron for distraction, and as Hogan braces for the bodyslam attempt the Million Dollar Man smacks him in the back with a chair. Hogan is miffed but not that hurt and wrests the chair from Teddy as Joey Marella turns around. Hogan and Andre tussle over the chair until Hulk kicks the monster in the belly then thwacks him about the top of his back. Mysteriously refbot Joey doesnt immediately call for the bell but barks a warning to Hogan. Umm… is that how it works? Hogan can do whatever he wants? Highly dubious. Seconds later Andre disarms Hogan and taps him across the brow with the chair, and this time Joeys had enough and calls for the bell. Hogan floors Andre with a huge running chair shot as Gorilla and Jesse get in a flap about the decision that hasn’t been announced, and Hogan stalks DiBiase and Virg up the ramp. Ted gets away but the bodyguard takes a suplex onto the floor (left handed lift from Hogan?) which is going to write him out of the rest of the show. Hogan makes the confusing overhead press motion he always does before attempting to slam a fatty and heads back to the ring while Monsoon claims it’s official with the double DQ (Fink still hasn’t said a word) - prompting him and The Body to exclaim “They’re both gone!!” right as the Hulk slams Andre - he was lying about the fault line, imagine that. Andre takes off. Real American plays, Hogan does his routine and Jesse lets the mask slip - “I love watching Hogan pose when he’s not the champion.” Gorilla insists Hogans still “the greatest professional athlete in the world today” and Ventura tells him he’s not the champion and they’ll know within an hour or so, but Monsoon doubles down and insists it’s still Hogan until somebody actually wears the belt. OK. Well... it was barely five minutes long but they kept it moving, completely different to last year's match with obviously less gravity attached even with the extra build, controversy and hatred. But I'm a liar if I say I didn't enjoy it, even though it's three consecutive non-finishes in the tournament. We head backstage for words from Randy and Liz, now in very fetching kind-of-matching rainbow/pink outfits. Savage tells Gene Okerlund "Hulk Hogan is a cheated man, not a defeated man" and that Hulk has never been beaten "not by me, not by you, not by Andre The Giant, not by Ted DiBiase" - I mean, technical inaccuracy regarding Andre notwithstanding, it's kind of endearing that Macho Man has to clarify the Hulkster never did the job for Mean Gene. Although, they have been in a match together! Savage alludes to the Hulkamaniacs being on his side now. Well, there's a thought! (10) (WWFHTTQF) DON MURACO VS MILLION DOLLAR MAN Can you imagine, 10 matches deep already and even though this is the only the second quarter final, we will be down to the last four by the end of this match due to the implausible number of byes. The Rock comes out first, having changed his t-shirt from the first round. Conversely despite sporting his ring suit for his role in the last match, Ted has left it in the locker room now. Probably in the wash. One thing I like about The Fink in old tournaments is that once he’d done hometown and weight for the first round, he wouldn’t bother for rounds thereafter. Why should he? I appreciate anyone who recognises redundancy. Muraco wisely attacks DiBiase on the apron without waiting for the bell, bodyslams him from outside in then lamps him with a nice clothesline. Jesse accuses the ref of incompetency (sic) - well, it is Bonello - and Monsoon quips “Alls fair in love and war (and quests for the WWF title)” - the part in brackets is clipped out of the audio but it’s a line I fondly remember and Gino’s cadence gives away that it’s from this match. It’s only now I notice no old-school logo in the corner either, if they have made some effort to remove “WWF” where possible, this is the first time I’ve noticed it, so kudos. The Rock pushes his advantage with a fistdrop from the second rope - he's looking good here. Ventura says he’s got to make the Gang the favourite to win the tournament now, Gorilla thinks Bam Bam “took a lot out of” him. I mean, they BOTH hit the head straight on the nail there. Snapmare straight into a Mr Perfect rolling necksnap looks smooth, dropkick has Teddy reeling and he rolls out where upon Billy Graham threatens him with his walking stick. That’s not very babyface! Back in Ted finally gets his heat after somehow reversing the momentum as The Rock tries to pull him out of the corner by his feet, sending Muraco into the buckles. Choking, a clothesline and fistdrops per standard DiBiase, final turning point comes when he goes for that backwards falling elbow from the middle rope which he absolutely not once, never actually hit. Don retrieves the edge and rallies including another nice clothesline, but after a dropdown the Million Dollar Man catches him with a great looking falling Stun Gun, and gets the win. Fuck me ragged, a pinfall finish. Ted's going to have a nice rest as he goes straight to the final awaiting the winner from the Savage/Valentine vs Gang half of the bracket. Gang also getting a rest and having only wrestled Bam Bam for about two minutes. Hmm. I always liked the Stun Gun as either a finish or major transition although it’s a bloody tough move to the judge the distance without hurting your opponent, as Stunning Steve himself has attested. You wouldn’t bother rewatching this match in isolation but it was OK. I enjoy babyface Muraco. Backstage Uecker is letting the mask slip and is stressing that he hasn’t found Vanna - it’s taxing. Demolition show their faces to snarl about beating Strike Force later. I believe them. I mean, 37 years have passed and we know the result already, but you get what I’m saying. For reasons unfathomable, when we cut back to the ring they’ve made Gang and Slick come all the way out to the ring just so Fink can confirm the bye and that OMG meets the winner of the imminent match. (11) (WWFHTTQF) RANDY SAVAGE VS GREG VALENTINE There's a mention during this match that both men have been Intercontinental champ ; ludicrously, given his tag title reign, at this point The Hammer is the more decorated man out of the two. Typical plodding Hammer fare. At one point he executes a shoulder breaker despite not working the shoulder prior or thereafter, which annoys me. First eventual attempt at the Figure 4 is kicked off by Savage. The Body says Valentine vs Gang would be an interesting match - he’s clearly been at the crême de menthe. Backbreaker by Valentine despite not working the back either, Macho Man reverses a suplex attempt to rally including a flying axe handle, when he gets up for a second Hammer hits him on the way down but sells like there was contact both ways. Randy goes for that move where you jump on your opponent draped over the middle rope but at Jimmy Harts imploration Greg gets out of the way. He goes for the Figure 4 but Savage grabs his hair and snatches a small package to squeak out the win. “They’ve gone bananas here in Atlantic City!” Hardly, Gino. Look, I know they were going for “look how much damage Macho Man has endured” but it should be impossible for a match to be this short but also boring. Round of 12 and umm, 3 quarter finals down, just one semi and the final left. I know. “It’s gonna be a happening!” Someone get Monsoon a hot dog, if only to shut him up. Backstage Okerlund is with Vanna a second time which is really unnecessary filler in an already arse-numbingly long show. (12) ICHT : HONKY TONK MAN VS BRUTUS “THE BARBER” BEEFCAKE Honk comes out with Jimmy Hart and “Peggy Sue” who even as a kid I’m shocked I couldn’t recognise Sherri Martel in a blonde wig (still Ladies’ Champion at this point). It’s still “Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion” at this point. Jesse gives Honky Tonk a real left-handed compliment - “What this guy lacks in ability he makes up for - he’s lucky.” Well, he certainly amassed a decent length reign to this point with a massive number of “lucky” (screwy) non finishes, to the degree I often use “Honky (their) way out” to describe a champ retaining without winning. As we’ll see. Watching this the first time on VHS was so weird to me seeing Brutus come out without his "cutting and strutting" theme music, and it's still weird ; the act feels incomplete. “Wild look in the eyes of Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake” according to Monsoon - that’ll be the prematch routine again. Waiting for lock up and it’s time for Ventura to get sentimental like last year ; “I wanna say hi to Teri, Tyrell and Jade back in Minnesota.” When Gorilla tells Jess he’s far from home, Ventura says Prince is watching at his house. You probably know what to expect from these two if you’ve seen this, any of their exchanges from three consecutive Survivor Series. Brutus has the early edge including an atomic drop, followed by mussing up the hair of the champ. Funny. As Honky is about to go head first to the buckle Ventura endorses championship advantage fearing a biased referee who could do a dodgy DQ call to switch a title “And I disagree with that.” Gorilla says “I agree with that disagreement” and Body exclaims “We’re starting to get along, half way through this program!” Shit, it would terrify you if this was legitimately only half way, right? Just this, the tag belts, the six man and the final 3 for the big belt left. Which is still lots. It’s funny to hear that conversation given that thanks to Danny Davis and evil twin Earl, we’ve seen all three mens titles change hands due to crooked refs within 2 years even with champions advantage and I don’t recall The Body complaining. Beefer does a leapfrog and brains a running Honk with a high knee sending Honky scurrying, snap mares him back inside then counters the counter when after putting his head down, evades Honkys wild kick sending him to the mat. Just as Brutus seems unstoppable he misses a running elbowdrop. HTM gets a little heat including The Colonel choking Brutus when ref isn’t looking - fairly sure its a young Jimmy Korderas - but it doesn't last long as The Barber grabs the top rope to avoid the Shake Rattle 'N' Roll sending Honky back to the mat. One backdrop later and Brutus is already ready to go home, and slaps on the sleeper. Jesse is stunned and exclaims "Luck may have run out on The Honky Tonk Man!" The arms are limp, Jimmy H jumps onto the apron to distract Jimmy K, and when the ref turns his back the Mouth clocks him with the megaphone. With Honky unconscious Brutus celebrates briefly but realises the ref is down, so starts strutting and motioning for cutting. Little Jimmy grabs his bag of scissors and attempts to flee but Brutus catches him, pins him down on the ring steps and gives him a trim. In the ring two refs are trying to wake up Korderas while Peggy administers CPR to Honky which is very silly looking, in the best way possible. Eventually she throws a water bucket on Honky while Brutus, instead of trying to go for the pin since there are other refs present, moronically storms the ring brandishing his hedge clippers until he's restrained by the extra refs. There's been no bell, but Honky, Hart and Peggy make good there escape, while the Fink announces The Barber winner by DQ. This was not as long and boring as I remember, it was OK. The post ref bump shenanigans weren't as long as I remember either, as a kid I recall spending ages thinking "How has Brutus not won yet?" Obvious finish designed to keep the feud running. Beefcake insists he was told before Mania IV he'd be winning the belt, only for the course to change and him be told "he'd win it later." Later was going to be SummerSlam but to hear Brutus talk these days, Warrior spoke up rather loudly for himself and got himself in the spot instead. Brutus also says him and Honky would have gone round the circuit doing rematches and Honky thinks that Warrior cost him a lot of money when that series didn't happen. Gorilla shoots it to backstage where Bob is still looking for Vanna and even the consummate pro Gino is sounding bored of the antics. Bob catches up with old mate Andre, happy that “Ted DiBiase is on his way up” and Hogans out, culminating in the famous shot of him choking Mr Baseball. (13) BRITISH BULLDOGS & KOKO B WARE VS THE ISLANDERS & BOBBY HEENAN Heenan and the Bloodline potter down and Bobs is wearing an attack dog trainers outfit - Jesse thinks it’s brilliant, Monsoon has his concerns. Smithers, Dynamite and the Birdman come out and the barely a reaction from the crowd gives away how burned out they are. I hope none of them went to 32! This at least should deliver decent action. Matilda visible goes running after The Brain when she gets to the ring so I assume they lined his outfit with sausages. Good stuff early has Dyno hit repeated hip tosses to both Islanders then a slingshot which Tama sells going all the way over to the floor, and our David Boy getting 2 on a crucifix on Haku (they’d recycle that for a finish in their singles series years later) and his ever-impressive press slam. Gorilla wonders what treatment the Heenan Family subjected Matilda to during the dognap, The Body replies “They obviously fed her well, look how big and fat she got!” Gorilla says “Boy it’s a happening” randomly and completely without context in the middle of this match. Heat on Dyno results in Heenan getting in a few stomps before comedically tagging out after the first sign of spirit, then Tama misses a Vaderbomb (!) giving Koko the chance to tag in for the first time and show off that dropkick, probably the best this side of Brunzell. He takes a bit of heat before sending Heenan into the buckle then dropkicking him clear into the ring post. Chaos ensues, and as the ref ushers the Bulldogs out he misses a triple team as the Islanders (somewhat gently) double press The Brain onto Koko, and that’s the finish. Heroes chase the baddies away and while Matilda runs after Bobby just fine, Davey Boy has to visibly pick her up and drop her on Bobby to create the illusion of her actually attacking him, which doesn’t look great. Obviously some decent action but time constraints meant it could have been more, Smith and Haku had great chemistry which we’d go on to see in one of my favourite Coliseum matches in 1990 from MSG that found its way onto Mega Matches. Because we haven’t had enough filler, Fink draws our attention to the WrestleMania banner (we edit out references to the Trump Plaza banner and “our WWF banner”) so The Body can pose from the gantry - Gorilla jokingly implies that if his mate takes a couple of steps forward, he’ll plummet to his death. That’s friendship for you. (14) WWFHTTSF : RANDY SAVAGE VS ONE MAN GANG Per the last round Ted comes out purely to have his bye confirmed. Gang and Slick rumble down to silence ; was there a reason he wasn’t sharing Jive Soul Bro with The Natural? Randy & Liz come down in matching black garments, Savage is back in the lilac trunks - let’s hope he washes them. Or maybe that’s why the Reed match was so short? As Ventura rattles off the rest and weight advantage for the future Akeem, Gino says one thing they haven’t talked about is heart, Jess immediately quips “Bret Hart?” LOL! Basic choking and brawling as they sell how knackered Randy is, and act like it’s superhuman when he kicks out after an elbowdrop. Gang misses a splash and then an avalanche so Randy gets a few blows in - nice spot where Gang is stunned and falls to a sitting position on the middle rope, then a running double axe handle sends him spilling out to the floor. Savage goes up top and lands the double axe to the floor. Back in the ring Macho Man errs by trying to slam the 450lb tank and ends up clubbed back to the mat. Slick starts harassing Elizabeth, looking a bit like he wants to swat her with his hat - thats not very christian of the future reverend. While the ref is distracted Gang grabs the cane and hits Savage across the back then tries (and fails) to hit the grounded Savage with it - at the third attempt, bent Bonello turns round and actually calls it right, disqualifying Gang on the spot. Gang then finally manages to hit Randy with the cane. Gang gives Slick a hug which gives the vibe of a dad consoling their fat kid for coming last in the 60m at sports day, but Macho Man hits a double axe to send Gang down on top of the Doctor then makes good his exit. Fuck all of a match, just trying to beat Randy up some more while Ted gets a rest. Monsoon tells us the final is Savage vs Ted “for the (WWF) championship.” Backstage Okerlund is with Vanna just long enough for her to excuse herself and go to the ring (that’s a long fucking walk then considering the tag belts are up next) and almost immediately Uecker bursts in to find out he’s just missed her. He’s confused at her apparent reluctance to see him ; “She wrote me two letters. Some guy called Vance White.” THATS IT?? That’s the shitty punchline we’ve been building for the duration of a two tape PPV?? Fuck my eye. (15) TTT : STRIKE FORCE VS DEMOLITION Challengers out first to probably the best entrance theme of the night if not the era. Gino says Ax and Smash have been even more dangerous since coming under the tutelage of Mr Fuji, and I wonder without looking it up if any of you recall who their first manager was? “There it is!” says Gorilla when the next theme hits - this was my first exposure to Martel before “The Model” and having watched this retrospectively it feels disingenuous watching him run down smiling and giving high fives. Girls In Cars is an absolute banger, isn't it? The real sad thing for me is that as talented as I feel Strike Force both were individually, as a team, they just weren't the Can-Ams. Amusingly, with Martel being Canadian and Santana being of Mexican descent, Tito says Vince wanted to put them together as The Border Patrol until Tito explained it could be insensitive for a babyface gimmick with so many Mexicans dying in their attempt to cross the border in overcrowded trains. You know what? I believe it. Monsoon says “Obviously Demolition not impressed” and I don’t think Atlantic City are either, they’ve fallen virtually silent. Jesse says Strike Force are going to have to hit and run. Gorilla questions if Demolitions ring attire is strictly speaking legal, and Jesse says he’s sure it’s been checked out by “the dictator Jack Tunney” - LOL! Nowhere near enough bashing yet of On-The-Take Tunney. Early going has the Demos do some of their trademark clobbering which seems to bring some fans back to life, and Rick & Tito rally with quickness and a double clothesline. The Body insists the ref shouldn’t count a pin if he saw the double team, Gorilla misses the point and brings up the 5 count and Jess says “Getting too late in the night to argue with you.” I feel you, Body. Martel impresses Jesse hitting Smash with a hip toss but not long after the tag Santana mistimes a leapfrog and just when you think Smash is going for a Stun Gun, he falls Tito straight into a clothesline from Ax on the apron. That looked great and the fans liked it too - do you think New Jersey natives saw a little of themselves in Ax and Smash?? Tito takes up his usual habit, taking a beating. It’s the natural order. Jesse : “I betcha Chico wishes he was back selling tacos in Tijuana right now.” Monsoon points out he’s not from Tijuana. In kayfabe of course Tito’s from Tocula, which is the Mexican equivalent of Parts Unknown in that it’s not a real place. Toluca is a real place in Mexico, but Tito isn’t from there either. He’s from Texas. Anyway. Ax hits Tito with a nice standing powerslam which is a fairly meaty move for merely a 2 in 1988. Punching, choking, cutting the ring off. Nice suplex by Smash then a missed elbow drop but Tito can’t make the corner. Ax puts his head down and gets nailed but again Tito doesn’t make it, but seconds later off a whip he rebounds with the Flying Forearm - fuck the tag, make the pin?!? No, he’s fucked. Ax makes it to Smash and Tito lunges into his corner to get Rick back in at last. Backdrop to Smash, dropkicks to both, running double axes to the chest to both, and Martel wastes zero time slapping the Boston Crab (with which they won the gold) on Smash. Santana twats Ax with ANOTHER Flying Forearm and let’s be honest, Strike Force have it in the bag. Sadly Tito snatches defeat from the jaws of victory, getting distracted by his desire to rough up Fuji who’s hopped up on the apron and dragging Marella away from a likely submission. Tito hits Fuji who drops his cane, which Ax grabs and smashes Martel with. Santana shoves Joey to the mat and luckily (or unluckily?) doesn’t get DQd for it, and continues to forget about the match in favour of abusing a manager as Marella clears the fog just enough to count Smash pinning Martel. Thus begins the Demolition dynasty! Another big night for Mania debutants. The fans seem fairly happy, the ones making any noise at least. Well, Santana looked a dork there. No wonder Rick will get sick of him. Tito, of course, having won at Mania (I) now moves to 1-3 and with three consecutive losses is well on his way to being the biggest loser of the first ten. Remarkably, this is also the last title either Santana or Martel will ever hold in the WWF, preferring to wrestle each other to zero consequence for most of the next four years. Santana having also won the tag titles with Ivan Putski in his first run in the 70s, and twice Intercontinental champ as we've covered, Martel having twice been tag champ with Tony Garea. This reminds me of one of my favourite commentary gaffes of the era, when JR is calling an El Matador vs The Model match on Fan Favourites 93 he says "I can remember a couple of opportunities each had when the other was Intercontinental Champion." That being a title Martel never held? You don't remember that, Jim. Not the funniest blunder from a 93 tape, that would be Al Hays claiming "I can still see Hacksaw Jim Duggan flailing away in there" during a 40 man battle royal... which Duggan wasn't even in from the start. Should have gone to Specsavers, Lordship. Where is Alfred anyway?? I digress. To answer from earlier - Demolition were initially managed by Johnny V which was weird because he already had Bravo & Valentine in the tag ranks. Not that either won the belts under his guidance. It actually wasn’t as plodding as I remember even though I’ve seen them have better matches with each other. Good banter after the match as the finish “looked to be” illegal according to The Body and Monsoon struggles with his stubbornness. Replay of the crucial moments - “That appears to be illegal” - I’m with Jess, it’s inconclusive. We’ll never know for sure. For a change we stay out in the arena without going backstage inbetween, Howard’s introductions begin of the dignitaries for the main and final. Robin Leach is introduced a second time carrying the eagle belt, coming down to a low key, almost sombre piano number. He’s presenting the belt to the winner, don’t worry, he’s not speaking again. “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” brings out Uecker who’s ring announcing. Monsoon tells Jesse “Always speaks very highly of you” to which Ventura wearily replies “No he doesn’t…” Bob introduces Vanna as timekeeper, hijinx. It wasn’t worth it. (16) WWFHTTF : RANDY SAVAGE VS THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN Teddy comes out yet with Andre in tow, again without “Money Money Money Money” which reminds me they actually dubbed it on for one of those “best of Mania” Coliseum releases later. Going for the big belt in his first WrestleMania seems pretty huge, though he obviously won't be the last man to do so. This was about his peak I'd say, if we aren't counting a crack at Warrior on The Main Event in the run up to Survivors 90 where his opponent here interferes at the death, bonking Warrior with the sceptre - not for the last time, obviously. Not the last time Warrior, Savage, Teddy and Sherri would all do a bit angle together either, of course. Randy and Liz come out in resplendent white outfits and Macho Man is back in the trunks he wore against Valentine. This is, of course, the second round in a row where Randys opponent had a bye and a rest. Really laying it on thick for his stamina although they don’t hammer home the two byes thing like I would. Gorilla says it would be “unprecedented” for Savage to win four times in one night, which is only true of PPV, not house show King of the Ring tournaments. Almost from the bell Andre trips Savage, then again shortly after from a ropes running exchange but Ted misses his elbow drop ; Earls missed them both. Probably unwise for him to ref this so soon after The Main Event, but what do I know? Ted takes over with strikes and a nice clothesline for 2 but Randy punches his way free from a sunset flip and gets 2 off a clothesline of his own. Ted regains the edge and beats on Macho Man some more but Savage returns fire with a running elbow to the top of the head, the Macho Neck Snap and a knee to the back that sends the Million Dollar Man to the outside. Without missing a beat Andre stands in front of DiBiase as Randy starts climbing the corner thinking about an axe handle. Great camera work captures Andre stood there nonchalantly looking up and Savage saying “Jump.” I mean, physical contact caused by the Giant might very well be grounds for DQ but I’m nitpicking, Randy is put off either way. Macho has a word and Lizzy goes running to the back, I assumed upon first watch she just couldn’t take watching her (I assumed) beloved getting roughed up any more. DiBiase takes advantage and gets 2 off three of his fistdrops then clamps on the reverse chinlock. Sudden rumblings through the convention hall and here comes Elizabeth back down with the wide-eyed Hulkster! He’s wearing red tights like Mania IX, so clearly he’s got plans to usurp another babyface right when they need holding up rather than being dragged down. Ted gets admonished by the ref for not breaking in the corner so Andre drags Macho Man through the ropes and chokes him ; Hogan comes running round the corner and clocks Andre, setting the tone that’s its going to be one on one. Undeterred Ted gets further nearfalls off a clothesline and elbowdrop, a suplex then a gutwrench suplex. DiBiase climbs to the top rope but Flair-style gets caught, and Randy throws him off the top. The crowd buzz and Savage gets a massive “do or die” moment and races to the top for the big elbow… but the pool is empty. "DiBiase going for the sleeperhold!" announces The Body... we're back in that "The Rock's hold" territory, aren't we? It's not like Ted's "sleeper" is different from Beefcake's in the same way Sid and Vaders powerbombs were different, it's actually a completely different move. To be fair, it's a couple of weeks until the Million $ Dream gets its name (10/04/88 Superstars to be exact). Savage gets to the ropes but Andre appears to pull them back so Randy can’t reach, distracting Hebner. Hogan’s already seen enough and slides into the ring and smacks the Million Dollar Man across the back with a chair. Macho Man does a VERY good job of conveying "Where the fuck am I?" then spies Ted compromised, and immediately clambers up top for the big elbow - Jesus, hours have literally gone by since he was dropping this on Reed in the first round. The Body keeps trying to say “I can’t believe Hogan would stoop that low” as if he hasn’t been paying attention all these years, as Macho Man nails the elbow. Distinctive hook of both legs by Randy, 1-2-3, and he's climbed the mountain. “We have a new champion” gasps Gorilla, sounding like he’s on fumes. Pleasingly unlike several “guest ring announcer” matches including Manias past for the actual winning announcement the pro steps back in ; "The WINNER of the tournament, and UNDISPUTED World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion.. RANDY, "Macho Man," Savage!!!" booms The Fink. Top, top announcement. Well done, that man. What a feat - so hardcore, they immortalised it in a Hasbro. Jesse wastes no time in mentioning “A tainted victory.” Hogan can’t help himself and snatches up the WWF title belt and brings it in the ring - man, even Robin Leach is getting robbed of his moment by the old carny. Maybe Hogan's justified about countering the baddies' interference but honestly, this feels (and always has felt) like it's more to do with his grievance from earlier than being that bothered about helping Randy. As always, it’s about him! That review I mentioned earlier was of Randys Coliseum review and our mate added this after a Hogan vs Savage lumberjack match “Hogan has won more matches on this tape than Savage has.” Makes you think. Three piece celebration between Randy, Hulk and Liz who ends up on Randys shoulder without any of the awkwardness that will greet the endings to SummerSlam and Survivor Series. Worth noting that the celebration seems grander because they’re using the first recording of “Pomp And Circumstance” which has far more of a defined beginning-middle-end than the one he’d switch to and swells nicely at the crescendo. But honestly, if you don’t hear this melody without thinking about Richie scraping off the dishes while Eddie tries to watch The Furry Honeypot Adventure, then I assume you aren’t a true Englishman. “Morning vicar!… charming. And the same to you with brass knobs on, you steaming great twat!” Jesse concedes the Macho Man showed great guts and “he’s now the champion of the World.” Ventura also, as is his wont, says the adrenaline is pumping and he might come out of retirement. Heard that one before, Jess. Match was a very decent piece of storytelling indeed, the first of three consecutive PPV battles between these two but oddly the only singles match they’d ever have on PPV. It did much to make up for some of the bollocks that came before it but not enough to prevent the overall show sliding into the “negative” column. With the celebration still rolling in the ring Gino wishes us “So long” without any protracted outro like previous years or a stills package, the show is mercifully at and end. I know what they tried to achieve with the tournament format but as a gamble, it was a bit of a busted flush. They’d have done well to present the usual supercard of separate issues than rely on talents like Hammer and Valentine wrestling twice and a succession of short matches and byes to keep the run time down to just “exhausting” rather than “torturous.” I’d have had the “Teddy buys the title” stand, some kind of suspension ruling prevent Hogan getting a shot at him and just done DiBiase vs Savage as a straight title switch and Hogan vs Andre grudge match. But they had their plan - make Savage look a fantastic hero so he can be a bigger baddie yet one year later, I get it. Going into the project I had this down as one that would be a chore to finish rather than one I actively looked forward to, and while it may not have been as bad as I remember (several matches being too short to be as boring as I found them as a child) it was still a slog, meandering to the finish line towards an ever-increasingly knackered crowd, and as a video release hampered by wasting the decent comedy timing of Mr Baseball being wasted on the interminable quest for Vanna. I bet Junior was pissing himself throughout, mind. Double tape? Fully Loaded 98 only needed one, and if I were you I'd watch that instead. It’s what Eddie would do. Although we may struggle to compete with “Swedish Lesbians In Blackcurrant Jam.” NUMBER OF WRESTLEMANIAS WATCHED : 4 NUMBER OF WRESTLEMANIAS GENUINELY ENJOYED : 2 (50%) NUMBER OF MATCHES WATCHED : 49 NUMBER OF MATCHES GENUINELY ENJOYED : 25 (51%) What did the house shows typically look like out the back end of this Mania? Quote "Post Mania, into April, and it’s all change. There’s a new WWF Champion and new tag team champions. Ricky the Dragon has finished up and people have been turned. Andres on the road but Hogans pissing about filming No Holds Barred. Let’s start with Andre! He takes a small crew to Europe, losing to Warrior by DQ 1st in Lugano, Switzerland (April Fool indeed) then pinning Hacksaw 2nd in Milan and Warrior 3rd in Cesena. Demolition get first defences here over the Young Stallions. 23rd Andre is back in the Silverdome beating Hacksaw by count-out halfway up the card between the first of the Bret vs Bad News matches and the Honky v Beefcake and Demolition v Strike Force rematches. 24th at Maple Leaf Gardens it’s Andre vs Duggan and Honky vs Brutus again, of note underneath the Rougeaus beat the Killer Bees and are already wrestling as heels. 25th in Montreal it’s Andre/Duggan and Honky/Brutus again, the Andre without Honky is the draw 29th in Utica and 30th in Scranton. The new WWF Champion is of course, Randy “Macho Man” Savage. There’s seemingly fuck all domestic house shows for most of April but 12,000 come to New Haven tv on 21st for Savage vs Andre (DQ) and Demolition vs Strike Force rematch, and 9000 to Springfield MA tv for Savage v Gang and Demolition v Bulldogs non-title. 23rd in Providence it’s Savage vs DiBiase for the title drawing about 6700 (Sherri defends as well) which to be honest isn’t great for the venue. 24th in Landover it’s Savage vs Ted supported by Demolition/Strike Force and Sherri in front of 4500, poor again. However the fabled yardstick of MSG yields results for Randy on 25th as 17,000 turn up for him vs the Million Dollar Man. It’s the same title matches 26th in Fort Wayne, 27th in Toledo, 28th in Phoenix, 29th in Fresno and 30th at the Cow Palace in front of a decent 11,000. Warrior vs Herc and Bret vs Bad News always support Randy and Demolition. Note of interest, Sherri’s challenger on these shows is Desiree Peterson, whose footnote in history was as the partner of Velvet McIntyre, when they lost the tag titles to the Glamour Girls. Honky Tonk Man still gets asked to draw a few B shows even without Savage as a dance partner. Him and Beefcake lead 26th in Glens Falls, 27th in Syracuse, 28th in Louisville, 29th in Columbus and 30th in South Bend. Bam Bams still getting booked, he’s with One Man Gang 23rd in Lowell. JYD v Outlaw Ron Bass might be your top match next night in Plymouth MI, 26th in Toms River NJ and 27th in Allentown." WHAT WAS UK NUMBER ONE ON THE DAY OF THIS MANIA? Edited May 16, 2025 by air_raid Girls in cars.... Quote
Chili Posted May 5, 2025 Posted May 5, 2025 EVERYTIME this thread updates with an @air_raidpost, I draw a deep breath knowing he's been through something. Quote
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 5, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 5, 2025 5 hours ago, Chili said: EVERYTIME this thread updates with an @air_raidpost, I draw a deep breath knowing he's been through something. It’s about to become far more enjoyable! Quote
Paid Members gmoney Posted May 5, 2025 Paid Members Posted May 5, 2025 IV is probably my least favourite Wrestlemania, of the first 20 anyway, then it gets hazy. It's just a real slog. Stuff that looks good on paper ends up being boring as fuck, and the crowd suck what little life there is out of it. Quote
The Reverend Posted May 6, 2025 Posted May 6, 2025 I seem to recall hearing somewhere that the trophy they had for the Battle Royal was broken before the event, and they ended up supergluing it back together, which is why when Hart is giving it a good old shellacking it doesn't actually break. Not sure how true this is though. Quote
Chili Posted May 6, 2025 Posted May 6, 2025 Something I always remember is Bret having superb accuracy and hoofing that trophy out of the ring as it comes down it clatters the trophy stand it was on and finally breaks it in two. Good old Bret, never misses. Quote
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 16, 2025 Author Paid Members Posted May 16, 2025 WRESTLEMANIA V (1989) The One With The Luster More chaos across the industry and Vince is really sticking it to the newly renamed WCW both in terms of talent raids and dirty tricks. We've had the Royal Rumble as a PPV event in its own right - going in Meltzer wasn't sure it would work, long-term. I mean, that's just funny in hindsight. As we covered in House Show Happenings 2, Junior ran a massive house show in Chicago 2 days before Chi-Town Rumble. Which was probably enough to convince Turner et al to move Wrestle War to May, which was originally scheduled to compete for buys directly with WrestleMania. They're raking it in anyway, by the 20th March Observer ticket sales of $1.6 million had just surpassed the total for Mania III - far fewer seats at much higher prices. Since Mania IV Vince has brought in Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, come within a nat's wing of enticing Ric fucking Flair himself to come in to wrestle Savage at SummerSlam, and has lured over the Powers Of Pain, the AWAs Road Warrior rip-offs, to feud with his own Road Warrior rip-offs. Plus, Sting's contract is up in May and Vince will try to sign him. As ever, he'll fail. CARD SUBJECT TO CHANGE OK, so we already know Randy Savage vs Hulk Hogan was set in stone before Mania IV even happened but there's some interesting factoids underneath, and they cross over. There was consideration to doing the Strike Force split on TV in the build up to do Tito Santana vs Rick Martel as a grudge match on the show proper but depending on who you ask either creative or Martel's Visa issues caused those plans to change. Concurrently the original whiteboard had the Rockers vs Brain Busters feud going all the way to Mania, but again, depending on who you ask, they needed Tully & Arn as antagonists for the Strike Force split or, according to notes from the Observer, the other wrestlers were asking to split the Rockers and Busters up because on the house shows there was a strong feeling of "we can't follow that." I believe the latter, I really do. Also it's been alleged that the WWF reached out to King Kong Bundy in late 88 to try and get him to come back and wrestle Andre at Mania V, but it went nowhere. Bundy is at the show, front row in fact, but cameras don't pick him up. There were several matches trimmed from what could have been due to time constraints (yes, we might have had more than 14 matches) including Young Stallions vs The Bolsheviks, and Red Rooster vs Brooklyn Brawler was nearly the match until they realised it could be shorter if they just used The Brain in the match to comedic affect. Allegedly. What was typically going on at house shows in the build-up? Quote Macho Man still has to complete some street fights with Bad News. 5th at Copps Coliseum they’re in a cage. 7th/8th at the Texas tvs he does dark matches with Ultimate Warrior again then they’re back on the road selling out the Cow Palace on the 10th. That’s Randy for March - 9000 (near capacity) attend the first WWF show at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio on 25th for Savage v Warrior. Shawn and Marty beat Tully & Arn by DQ in Shawns hometown. Hogans still doing cage matches with Big Boss Man. 10th in Montreal he has to slum it and do Bravo duty (Boss Man works Herc). 18th the Hulkster/Boss Man cage match sells out Madison Square Garden because of course it does. If interested, the Rooster gets his win back from Brawler but only because Bobby Heenan is banned from ringside. Loser. An identical card sells out Boston Garden the same evening. Hulkster only works Boss Man until Mania. Early month on a few shows there’s continuation of Warrior & Jake vs Andre & Ravishing. Andre vs the Snake one on one goes down dark at TVs and supports Savage on occasion, and is the draw in several towns including Louisville Gardens on the 9th. Later they’d start doing lumberjack matches. A Warrior defence vs Boss Man is your main 11th in Nashville atop Rockers/Brain Busters, Studd/Akeem and DiBiase/Tito. 21st in Bismarck ND and 22nd in St Cloud MN, Demolition vs Powers of Pain is on top, Studd/Akeem and DiBiase/Tito support again. A lot of form carries on from February - Perfects still doing broadways with Herc, but starts getting to win over Ron Garvin including at MSG, Beefcake is still beating the Million Dollar Man or Rick Rude, it’s still Big John Studd vs Akeem, Robin vs Sherri or Judy, and Rockers vs Tully & Arn. Ted still sometimes beats, sometimes draws with Tito, Rick Martel makes it back to close enough full time so he does some of those overdue bouts with Ravishing and wrestles Perfect in Nashville. Near the end of the month there’s a few changes, Perfects with Koko, Martels with Bad News, Hacksaw divorces himself from Bravo at last and starts working Haku. With Bret/Honky and Anvil/Valentine for virtually three months straight, the Rougeaus have been slumming it with the Bushwhackers. The only show I can find without Hogan, Savage, Andre or a Warrior or Demolition defence is 6th in Colorado Springs, Rockers vs Brain Busters goes on last supported by Herc vs Perfect and Studd vs Akeem. Amusing note on Studd vs Akeem ; allegedly in San Francisco Studd is told by the office that their matches have been so crap (with non finishes) that if Johns physically incapable of giving Akeem a bodyslam for a decent pinfall ending, he’ll be let go. Harsh but fair. 7th dark at El Paso TV, Perfect works a draw with John Tenta (Earthquake), who beats a jobber next night in Odessa. Finally… 3 undercards between 19th and 24th feature Barry Horowitz vs Scott Casey…. HOROWITZ WINS!! HOROWITZ WINS!! HOROWITZ WINS!! THE OPEN Frankly amazing stormy graphic of Randy and Hulk over some atmospheric sax while Vince says “The MegaPowers…. Explode! At WrestleMania V!” and we cut straight to “jam packed” Trump Plaza on 2nd April 1989. Straight in! No hard cam intro for Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura, Gorilla tells us “You can cut the electricity with a knife” and says we’re in for “several hours” of the best action - interesting we’re not committing to a defined timescale. If last year is anything to go by, we could be here for weeks. We head straight into the ring where Fink introduces the Ladies ch... oh, I do apologise - "World Wrestling Federations Womens Champion" Rockin' Robin is here to sing America The Beautiful. Jess says what I'm thinking, she shouldn't give up her day job. Jake's half-sister is not even out of the ring when Jerry Lawler's music uses Hulk Hogan's time machine to travel back to 1989 and cue our first match. (1) HERCULES VS KING HAKU Haku is carried to the ring on his throne ; he had a phantom win (and televised coronation) when Harley had to take time off injured and they wanted to keep the gimmick in the Heenan Family. Unlike title belts, the crown being actually contested is the exception, so it’s not at stake here. In another part clipped from the Coliseum release The Brain implores everyone there and watching at home to show respect and bow. Hercules follows to his trumpets theme and carrying his chain as our beloved comms team talks up the vendetta Herc has with the Family but also in passing the other matches they’re looking forward to tonight. Haku with the old “Pearl Harbour” to quote Monsoon, but Herc rebounds with a hip toss, bodyslam, two elbow drops, a flapjack and a clothesline to the outside. Quite a rally for the opening minutes! Some of the brawling was audibly stiff work. Watching Herc here I’m reminded of Sean Mooney calling him “The Mighty One” as one of his personal little nicknames like “The Sailing Superstar” for Tugboat. Anyhoo, “Mighty” gets distracted on the floor by the Weasel and the King gives him a clothesline - “That’ll make you wish you were somewhere else” according to Monsoon. Haku does his pendulum backbreaker, which always looks spot on, holds on for some extra pressure, then does it again. The Body is already in form, when Gorilla critiques the technique on Haku’s subsequent bear hug, Jesse asks “Now what does a Gorilla know about bear hugs?” Hercules attempts to power free and gets a false dawn when his majesty misses a second rope headbutt, nailing his left jabs/right haymaker combo and a kneelift but making a mistake going to the top and meeting a crescent kick on the way down - I’d buy that for the finish in 89. A reverse whip and Haku springs back from the middle buckle with a 180 rounding crossbody but faceplants himself, Hercules hits two clotheslines and a powerslam with Haku running off the ropes, which also I’d have bought for the finish but it’s only a close 2. Back to their feet and Herc ducks a swing, hits a back suplex and (kind of) bridges, getting (kind of) body weight on The King but lifting his own shoulder, and captures the three count. I’ll be honest, it looked a bit rough there. Haku seemed to just be staring at the sky daydreaming rather than trapped in a pinning predicament. Otherwise… lovely bit of work, actually. Kept it moving, everything had purpose and was well executed, yeah, no complaints! Technically it could be a candidate for Non Title Whining, I suppose. Meltzer gave it half a star, so fuck him. Replay of the finish suggests we’re still only able to slow mo replay the footage per broadcast. I’ll keep my eyes peeled. Intro and one match down, Gino hasnt called it a happening yet. Maybe he ran out doing SummerSlam? Gorilla says Gene Okerlund is standing by with “Shawn Michaels and The Rockers” - whoops! Unbelievable foreboding that on a live PPV, consummate pro Bob Marella has forgotten Marty’s name. Shawn sounds a little hoarse (understandably) and ponders “what’s it going to look like when two big men are trying to catch greased lightning”. Jannetty gives it the classic “rock and roll, strut and stroll, slam and jam” - if I remember correctly, they’re going to BE jam very shortly. (2) THE ROCKERS VS THE TWIN TOWERS In the ring, “Jive Soul Bro” is NOT being dubbed over like on IV. 814lbs combined means, by my maths, Boss Man is 357 here, which he’d stay until the face turn and trimming down. “Biggest tag team in professional wrestling bar none” says Monsoon, “Unless you’ve got a double” is Ventura’s retort. Rockers down to a nice reaction, I must admit I always found the "tag team specialists" label rather confusing because in the late 1980s surely EVERYONE from Barbar to Bushwhacker Butch who primarily earns a cheque as half of a tag team is a specialist in tag team wrestling? Whatever. Fresh from a match between veterans of Manias II-IV, here we have 3 lads wrestling in their first, the first and only for the Towers as a team. Famously the Rockers have learned nothing from their last stop in Stamford and were out very late the night before into morning - Michaels in particular is coping on four hours of sleep and is operating on huge amounts of coffee and pep pills to get him through the match ; let’s see how we go. Cat and mouse in the early going. Big Boss Man has a clear leverage advantage over Shawn in the first tie up and sits him on the top rope, but gets distracted by Marty and Shawn nails a dropkick from the middle rope. Tags on both sides and Marty is too speedy for Akeem, soon the Rockers are quick tagging with their usual arm wringer based offence including a double one into a double reverse knifeedge chop. “This is a happening” - ah, Gorilla, I thought we’d lost you for a hot minute. Jess suggests the Towers may have taken Shawn & Marty lightly because of the size advantage but Gorilla says the Slickster is too smart for that, “he comes across that way” - you know, that literally never occurred to me, I thought Slick was a clear and obvious nutter. In typing “Slickster” I recall the Federations obsession with making those weird little nicknames out of (already) stage names, which will peak much later when Junior commentates on the “Doinkster” - ugh. Anyway. VERY clever transition spot where Akeem makes a blind tag, reverses a whip into the ropes and when Marty leapfrogs him, Boss Man catches Jannetty in a bear hug where upon Akeem avalanches into Marty crushing him between their bellies. It’s giving “Natural Disasters” energy. The quick tags come in now from the Towers ; Boss Man hits a headbutt then his running legdrop with Marty draped over the rope, Akeem comes in for an avalanche with Marty leaning back over the top rope (where upon the African Dream does his little jig), Ray tags back in just to administer a boot to the chest, and just like that Akeems back in for the dreaded double avalanche. Quake and ‘Phoon definitely watched tapes of Akeem and the Bosom Man, didn’t they? The endurance edge our buddies mentioned earlier wont count for much with the tag team cohesion shown here by the baddies. More in and out before Jannetty avoids another squash job that sends Boss Man to the apron and Marty scoots between Akeems legs to make the tag. Rockers hold the advantage with double whips into the buckle on Akeem and floor him with a double shoulder tackle from the second floor, but on a ropes running exchange Michaels gets his head taken off with a monster clothesline. Our “former prison guard” (as Sean Mooney was fond of reminding us) tags and goes to the top rope which was ALWAYS a mistake for him. “That’s 400lbs plus up there” says Gorilla but as I said earlier… 357. Either way, splash misses. Shawn goes for a pin but Boss Man launches him off at 2, HBK-to-be runs in and ends up in a position from which we’d later expect a huracanrana but Marty comes in without a tag (The Body doesn’t like that) to do the schoolboy kneeling trip to fell Boss Man. Double dropkick to Akeem on the apron as Monsoon tries to excuse it all with the five count, Rockers head up top for a not-perfectly-timed double dropkick to Boss Man. Akeems had enough and throws Marty out. Shawn goes to the well one time too often (channeling my inner Monsoon, there) and jumps off the top again, this time the face-sit position (oo-er) gets reversed perfectly with Boss Man spinning round and powerbombing Michaels to the mat, which looks great. No wasted time, Akeem tags in for the splash, “Air Africa” as called by Gino, and “Forget about it. It’s over.” Simple fun, great storytelling. Everything was done well and everyone got to shine for what they brought to the table. Really, a bit of a forgotten gem. It's a top notch example too of why older wrestling involved far more craft in a "less is more" way ; there are far fewer different moves in this match than your average 2025 match but when you examine the card overall it stands out more because the two big lads do moves that you don't see in any of the other matches, nobody moves around the ring like the Rockers do and so on. Today, the middleweights all do cruiserweight moves, the heavyweights are no less strong than the super heavyweights, and there's so much squeezed into every match that signature spots need to be ever-increasingly convoluted or "wow" to make your match memorable. 2 for 2 on the night and if we want to run the rule over "Mr WrestleMania" then hey, Shawn's 1 for 1 in my book. Better hungover than plenty of the roster in peak condition. Barely a second passes after the decision before Monsoon shoots us to a pre-tape where Tony Schiavone (BY GOLLY) caught up with the Million Dollar Man. Ted talks about how much he pays for a haircut and that he’s in his domain here among high rollers. He’s near his final form here - black suit, Million Dollar Belt. (3) BRUTUS "THE BARBER" BEEFCAKE VS THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN Of course, these two men are destined to meet again at Mania IX in the first half of a Double Main Event. Ted comes out first, still without music. He shakes the hand of Donald Trump who even as a younger man looks like a confused old man. DiBiase is announced as making his spring residence in Palm Beach FL, which I always loved, and as “the self proclaimed Million Dollar Champion” although it’s not up here - The Body suggests DiBiase didn’t consider Beefcake as having beaten anyone to earn a shot. Brutus comes out with theme intact, both with the hedge clippers and a bag over his shoulder; could have left that, for me. Less is more. Brutus takes an uncharacteristic cheap shot during instructions and pops Teddy one then follows with two backdrops either side of a hiptoss and Ted bails out. Back inside The Barber reverses a whip to the corner then meets DiBiase with the first of three consecutive bodyslams then a big clothesline that sends him out again. Back in, and just as Jess is voicing his surprise at how slow the Million Dollar Man has started, Virgil grabs Brutus’ foot from the floor and Ted takes over. “If you can’t win fair, cheat” says Ventura, and Gorila chimes in with “That’s your motto! Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.” Junior and The Body never had this great banter, they really didn’t. Ted brawls, chokes, hits a nice clothesline then connects a middle rope double axe handle. He gets over confident and puts his head down leading to a scare off a small package, recovers but finds his suplex attempt reversed, then off a rope run we get a double clothesline. Still no comeback though, DiBiase recovers first and nails the suplex this time, and nicely. He locks in The Million Dollar Dream, “I’m enjoying this, we could see Beefcake lose his hair!” opines Jesse, somewhat out of nowhere, “Beefers fighting it” says the Gorilla, and The Barber reaches the ropes. Twice in succession Brutus makes a block and sends Teddy face first to the top turnbuckle then repeats it 10 times with Trump Plaza counting along. Bruti gives the sign for the sleeper, whips DiBiase in and applies it, but a combination of the ropes and Virgil save Ted from going out. A knee to the back and Brutus takes a tumble to the floor where Curly Bill gets a few licks in behind Earls back - when The Barber retaliates, DiBiase follows him and suddenly the double count out looks inevitable, and so it comes to pass. “The referee has counted both men out of the ring, this contest ; a draw” says Howard, nicely to the point. These two worked well together and I understand protecting both with the finish - Teds going to draw money with Jake The Snake all summer, Brutus is set to take up the vacancy of The Hulksters tag partner. After the match Beefcake takes care of Virgil with an atomic drop and clothesline, when he slaps the sleeper on DiBiase makes the save and gets another bodyslam for his troubles but both scurry off when Brutus retrieves the clippers. Gorilla sends us to a clip of Lord Alfred Hays (yes!) trying to catch up with The Bushwhackers at the “annual WrestleMania brunch.” Butch & Luke are actually dressed quite well in co-ordinating contrast polo shirts! Al asks how they’re getting ready for the Rougeaus but they’re incomprehensible because they’re stuffing their faces. Al says the Rougeaus find Luke & Butch offensive inside the ring and they’ll agree they’re “pretty offensive outside the ring” if they’re watching. Lordship, this is nothing, wait til you see what Gene Okerlund has to endure when SuperTape gets released. (4) THE BUSHWHACKERS VS THE FABULOUS ROUGEAU BROTHERS An international affair here. With “All American Boys” playing, Jacques and Raymond are on their way to the ring. With the Brain already off to a bad start, the Mouth of the South shows his face for the first time, colour-co-ordinated with his Fabuleux lads with a delightful Quebecois jacket. Jess notes the disgust in Monsoons voice when the Rougeaus are announced as now making their home in the US (Memphis specifically). I always loved the “but SOON to relocate in the United States” intro as a heat source. “The marching morons” come down during which I get PTSD from a Caesars Palace t-shirt in the crowd, and get hold of Jimmys jacket which is the cue for the Brothers to attack them. Reversal of a double whip (into Hart) starts things brightly for Luke & Butch and then after a brief advantage for Ray over Luke, Cousin Butch comes in and they clear up including the Battering Ram on Raymond. Not the end as I’d hoped, but Jacques’ attempt to break the pin misfires and he drops a knee on big bro. Proper heat shortly thereafter, nothing fancy. The Rougeaus are great irritants but they’ve nothing to work with here. Bushwhackers aren’t even trusted to do a proper comeback as while Freddie Sparta is distracted for ages by Mouth and Mountie ostensibly celebrating the latest double team, Butch comes in illegally (again) and the Kiwi fruitcakes hit Ray with the Battering Ram (again) and a tandem stomach breaker, and Luke pins our favourite future French language commentator. You’ll rate the match by how much you like The Bushwhackers and for me it was a total dud. “What a happening!” confirms Monsoon before he flips it to - NOW WE’RE PEAKING - Sean Mooney on the arena floor trying to get a word with fans, but the Bushwhackers come up and lick him before he can. The Body forgets himself and says “beautiful double team” at the replay of the double gutbuster. Straight back to Howard! (5) BLUE BLAZER VS MR PERFECT Dave described Trump Plaza as a "library atmosphere" in his review of this match. We'll see. Without music, Mr P strolls down with “a new perfect wardrobe” according to Jesse so I’m guessing this was the debut of the singlet. Ventura says he has it as the sleeper and thinks it will be tremendous. Owen comes down in his lovely blue costume and backflips into the ring. The Body shares “Had a chance to see (Curts) father, Larry “The Ax” Hennig… STILL got a 24 inch neck! He said he had to lose 20lbs, I said get your neck down to 18, you’ll lose it!” That’s nice, although next years allusion to Perfects dad is funnier still (patience). Early going has Perfect lead with brawling with a hiptoss in the middle but Blazer reverses an attempted second with a flip, hits two consecutive bodyslams then a dropkick sends The Flawless One (TM Sean Mooney) over the top to the floor in characteristic fashion, then he follows with a basement dropkick and heads out after him. Back in and Perfect threatens to take hold again but following in to the corner Owen slings himself up and over, goes for another hiptoss then when P blocks, the Blazer does that counter he loved using his leg to flip backwards off the guys head, hits his hiptoss then follows with another bodyslam, another dropkick, then big brother’s pendulum backbreaker as The Body says he doesn’t think Perfect was ready for this. “I don’t think he did all his homework on this guy!” agrees Gorilla as Perfect kicks out of an early pin attempt at 1, Blazer hits a kind of armwringer into single arm Northern Lights suplex without the bridge but Perfect slips out of the lateral press at 0 to further emphasise how finished he isn’t. Bodyslam and Blazer heads up top - he goes for the splash with which he beats jobbers but Perfect gets the knees up. A few clubbering blows and Mr P works a chinlock while sitting on Blazers back. Whip goes a bit skew-whiff when Owen gets distracted adjusting his mask but recovers and Perfect runs into a boot. Blazer gets a not-that-close 2 off a short standing powerslam, then off a whip to the buckles and a belly-to-belly Curt rolls a shoulder for a closer 2… subtlety, thy name is Hennig. Next whip is reversed but Blazer comes out strong wrapping Perfect up in a crucifix for the closest 2 you’re likely to see - “2 inches away” from losing the Perfect Record, Jess starts to say but as Blazer remonstrates with Tim White, Perfect floors him with a vicious forearm. Jesse says Blazer was questioning the count and Monsoon shares “I’m questioning the count a little bit myself!” Perfect wastes no time as always - “Cradle suplex!” says Gorilla, “No no no no no, that’s the PERFECT-PLEX!” corrects The Body, as Timmy counts the three. “Perfect-Plex, indeed” Gino is forced to agree. A replay - from at last an alternate camera angle! Kudos, producer! - shows the Perfect-Plex in the best light, parallel to the unhooked leg so you can see the fingers were locked. I’d embarrass myself if I told you how many years it took it to dawn on me why the move is known as the fisherman’s suplex! Well… I don’t agree with Meltzer, I heard plenty of “ooos” for the state-of-the-art moves here of which there were several. Utterly superb five minute match (5:38 to be exact), for what might have been a Perfect showcase you can tell what esteem he held the Harts in - as we’ll hear shortly, he’s about to go on the road with Bret for a few months - here he gave Owen EVERYTHING and looked in real jeopardy before pulling it out in the end, staying “Perfect” and going over while making his opponent first look worth beating. I was pleasantly surprised that Jess & Gino knew a crucifix when they saw one, that kind of sharpness disappears when we get to Junior on play by play. Just a corking piece of business all round. As Perfect departs Jesse starts saying “It’s time!! It’s time!!” and it’s clear he’s promised Monsoon a big surprise… which turns out to be nothing more than just being introduced to the live crowd atop their broadcast position and milking the applause and chants, just like last year. And just like last year Monsoon says “wouldn’t want you to go over the railing” in a tone that suggests he’d actually find it hilarious. Signs Of A Psychopath, I think you missed Bob Marella. We cut eventually - more time for the crowd to pause for breath - to Al Hays for his coverage of the WrestleMania 5K run. It’s little more than a humourours skit for Mr Fuji to pretend he’s in such good shape he can complete the course in his suit and bowler hat. Japes. Back in the arena and the still very relevant Run-DMC are doing the WrestleMania Rap. I don’t have to listen to it again for your benefit, gentle reader, but it’s better at least than Men On A Mission. Next a nice little recap which we didn’t get on Silver Vision of the then-confusing double turn from Survivor Series and the ending to a Demolition/Powers of Pain match from Prime Team in February. Backstage Okerlund grabs a word with “the Demolition” (Bret would be proud) about the handicap match - they’re both pretty vocal about “Fuj the Stooge” and graphic about the neck squeezing they want to do. (6) TTT : DEMOLITION VS POWERS OF PAIN & MR FUJI (2 vs 3) As the Powers and Fuji are introduced Gorilla explains it’s unprecedented that the tag titles are allowed to be up 2 on 3. I wish he’d lived to see them defended against ten year olds or in three way singles ladder matches. He concedes Fuji looks in decent condition and Jesse immediately hams it up about the 5K run. Fuji throws salt in the corner, Gino isn’t sure there too many evil spirits he needs to ward off, Ventura replies “You’re one.” Ha! Demolition come down to possibly the best pop yet which makes sense as Atlantic City seemed to endorse them winning the titles as heels the year before. Early brawling sees Ax and Smash tagging in and out on Warload, with a snapmare and chinlock from each. Barbar tags in and absorbs a clothesline and bodyslam from Ax then more quick tags and chinlocks. Gorilla is surprised at the “lack of output” from the challengers and The Body proposes “first Mania jitters” - indeed like the Towers, the Powers are wrestling their only Mania as a team here. Barbarian briefly gets an advantage on the Ax with a thrust to the throat and a knifeedge that takes Ax off his feet but not long after the tag, the Warlord gets dragged to the Demolition corner and subjected to a double clothesline. Soon Ax gets distracted by his desire to get to Fuji, levelled by a huge boot from Barbar and subsequently double teamed. The debate rages on about Fuji - Jesse says “Give Fuji credit ; he ran that 5K in a tux!” When Gorilla suggests cheating, Ventura can’t believe the jealousy ; “He’s out training while you’re throwing dice!” This is not the first friendly allusion to Gino being a slot junkie, and it won’t be the last before we’re done. Monsoon insists the rules are to the Demos advantage because “They don’t have to beat the Warlord and they don’t have to beat the Barbarian, they can beat Fuji!” Speak of the devil, he tags in, drops Ax with a knifeedge and - “Banzai!” - drops a suspiciously low headbutt with Ax’ legs parted. More double team either side of another nice boot then flying shoulder tackle from Barbar, an over the shoulder bodyslam triggers a tag to Fuji who comes off for a legdrop or vertical splash but Ax moves either way. He can’t tag but shortly thereafter ducks a Warload tag, fells the big lad and tags in the Smasher. As he bodyslams both Powers Gorilla insists Fuji is the weak link and Ventura acknowledges he hasn’t wrestled for years - Monsoon says “Neither have you! Neither have I.” Ventura says “You MANY years, us just years.” True, but funny nonetheless. Smash with a Snakes Eyes style hot shot into the top rope assisted by Ax, and a five man ruckus breaks out. Ax clotheslines Barbar over and out, while that has the ref tied up Warload pins Smash’s arms back and Fuji gets out another salt packet - Smash ducks and it’s the load that gets blinded. Repo clotheslines his former manager and wastes no time tagging Ax ; they hit their finish (we retcon it to be called the Demolition Decapitation but it was never named on screen) and Earl counts three for Ax. “They held the title, I can’t believe it” says The Body. Gorilla blames Fuji for getting himself into the match in the first place. Well, as we established in a previous entry you’ve got to be dumb as a box of rocks to betray your existing team who ARE the champions in favour of someones who ARENT. Incidentally if you think pinning Fuji was protecting the Powers of Pain, wait until you see Survivors where each put separate pins on Ax and Smash only to be eliminated by a dubious twin DQ for, as Jesse puts it, “because they beat up Hogan too.” Match started a little slow but became what it needed to be to become enjoyable. Backstage Tony Schiavone - BY GOLLY! - tries to get word with the WWF Champion Macho Man only to get the door slammed in his face ; not the last time that will happen up North. (7) RON GARVIN VS DINO BRAVO Dino here is still Dream Team era sparkly jacket and plain gear, and still with Frenchy Martin. “Rugged” Ronnie gets an “in the ring” intro - Garvin here is the fourth former NWA World Heavyweight Champion to wrestle at Mania after both Funks and Handsome Harley. Rather oddly with both in the ring, Fink introduces Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka to the ring, to polite applause. He’s dressed in traditional garb but still obviously a regular bloke from Fiji and not the “savage” character they’d later get him to portray. 45 here, The Body asks “if he’s still got it” but concedes if anyone has the drive to return to the scene and make an impact, Superfly has. Odd placing. Bell sounds at a sneak attack by Bravo as Garvin looks for a home for his towel. Dino gets off his feet for an elbow drop but otherwise it’s generic brawling including a short lived bear hug. Ron punches his way free when lifted to the face-sitting position and starts his own generic brawling. Gorilla says the fans are “in awe” which is code for silent. Garvin attempts a piledriver and counters the counter with a sunset flip but when he does mounted punches in the corner Bravo catches an inverted atomic drop then hits his “side suplex” (sidewalk slam) for a surprise clean pin. After the bell Garvin is a sore loser and forearms Bravo from behind sending him out, one jab floors Martin and Ron subjects him to The Garvin Stomp. Ventura says “This should be a fine from President Jack Tunney.” That's the end of Frenchy. Match was short but dull. Replay is the only pause before we’re straight into the next “tag team contest” - thank you Howard. (8) STRIKE FORCE VS THE BRAIN BUSTERS “Two really tough dudes” says Gorilla of Tully & Arn. Strike Force bounce down the aisle and I feel a sense of foreboding when Monsoon says “They’re in for a rough afternoon” - he’s not wrong. “Strike Force was, and I say was, a tremendous team.” Ominous too from Jess. Fun fact : Martel had Visa issues that nearly prevented him re-entering the States in time for this match!... I thought he was from Cocoa Beach, Florida? Brief bit of wrestling between Blanchard and Martel but Rick takes a knee to the back from Arn, when the Busters try isolating him there’s a superb series of fists and fire to get free then Tito comes in and they clear out the Busters with a double dropkick. Back in, Martel and Arn are on the mat. Anderson has a body scissors but that’s a mistake as Martel makes his feet and reverses into an early Boston Crab - Tully breaks it up with a sneaky jab from the apron then tags in. Tito makes a blind tag and takes Tully off Martel with a bulldog then slaps on the Figure 4 ; Anderson rushes in and Martel applies one on him too! Arn rakes the eyes of Tito, the legal man, to save the match. Superb sequence of headlock takeover - head scissors - jackknife pin - bridge leads to a backslide attempt from Santana, and Arns back over. Double whip with two heads down earns Anderson a kick to the face and a small package to Tully for a nearfall. This is superb thus far. Tully goes for a desperate atomic drop and Tito makes another blind tag, Santana uses his momentum to hit the ropes but when Blanchard drops down the Flying Forearm accidentally cleans out Martel. It didn’t look perfect as Tito sidesteps Blanchard before he actually leaves his feet, but they’re moving so fast it’s forgivable. Rick hits the floor and desperate for a tag, Tully hits a nice dropkick to Tito. Crucially, what you might have missed - Anderson has been distracting the ref so he didn’t see Martel tag in ; Santana is still the legal man as far as he knows. Attention to detail. Double team ensues - “Heenan’s got them like machinery” says Ventura, not that the Horsemen needed much fine tuning, you’d have thought. Few hope spots from Tito where he sends Tully into Arn, off a sunset flip where the Busters are able to tag, and a crossbody from the middle rope on Arn for 2. Ventura says it’s been too long, “I don’t care what shape Chico’s in” and Anderson gives him another chance climbing to the top and getting thrown off in classic fashion. Personally, I don’t think that’s fair to Flair. Santana drags himself to the corner but Rick ignores his outstretched arm and still selling just walks up the apron. “It’s obvious that he’s injured, he doesn’t want to get in” says The Body. Just as Tully sets up a Stun Gun, Martel drops down from the apron. “Now where’s he going?” asks Gorilla as the crowd start booing as they can see Titos being left to the wolves. “These guys were as close as brothers” says Monsoon - obviously not. Double team includes a textbook spinebuster from Arn. Final flurry from Tito sees him whip Blanchard to the corner but when he goes for a monkey flip Arn holds Tullys trunks and Santana hits hard. Tag, and as Gorilla clutches at straws suggesting Martels gone in search of medical attention, the Busters call it a day. “The piledriver spike (sic)! Nobody’s gotten up from that, and neither will Santana.” Quite, Gino. Mean Gene is in the interview location with Rick Martel. “He just got what he deserved. I’m sick of him… Mr Tito wants to ride my coattails again.. I don’t want to be associated with that guy, he’s a loser!” Can’t argue with him there, Tito moves to 1-4. There's a future of upheaval for Rick on the horizon - he'll take on Slick as a manger, adopt a new flying kneedrop finish, drop the kneedrop and go back to the Crab, quietly drop Slick and eventually settle on "The Model" persona we all loved to hate. Fun fact however - in a tour of Italy at the end of the month he's booked still as a babyface against King Haku and Mr Perfect, presumably because Mania hasn't aired yet. This being the same tour the one and only Rick Rude vs Bret Hart match happened. Match was great while it was still a match, story took over and it was still great. Fink promises us “It’s now time for Pipers Pit. “I’m gonna like this!” Says Monsoon. I’m not. Great bit of crowd bait as Fink says “When you think of the word Rowdy, there is only one..” Bonnie Lass Of Fyvie plays… but its Brother Love. However, everything that follows, from Prichard's impersonation of "Brother Rodney" to the appearance of Morton Downey Jr and his interactions with first Brother Love and then Hot Rod right through the infamous fire extinguisher bit that made it way onto numerous highlight packages over the years... none of it is good viewing. One of the worst skits Dave's ever seen, he said at the time. Christ, he's in for a few shocks over the next 30 years. Bizarre way to get Piper back on screen, although I'm not sure he would be back in the ring quite as quickly if Jake doesn't get injured and they need someone to wrestle Ted through late spring/early summer. Fun fact - Brother Love and Piper did somewhat of a dry run on a house show in Denver on 19th March so Piper wasn't going in completely cold. WCW were also trying to get him to sign before he confirmed for Mania - I do wonder if we'd have seen Flair turn back sooner if there was another reprisal of Flair vs Piper on the horizon. Break in play continues with Sean Mooney interviewing Trump (blah blah blah fantastic blah blah a great honour blah blah fantastic blah blah such an honour). We have an ad for No Holds Barred removed, and Jesse cuts a fierce promo on Hogan muscling in on his territory. He says for Hogan not to worry when he’s out of work after losing to Macho Man - he can drive Ventura’s limo. Nice little recap of the MegaPowers from Mania IV through SummerSlam and Survivors then all Twin Tower related happenings between SNME, Superstars and the final implosion at The Main Event - conveniently clipping out the occasions Hulk was too handsy with Lizzy which drew Savage’s ire to begin with, and the falling out during the Rumble. Wouldn’t want to make The Hulkster look bad, right? Speaking of the great orange hope, he’s with Gene. There’s an unedited mention of “WWF Champion,” that Macho Man not only attacked the Hulkamaniacs but put Elizabeth between them (umm, that was you, Luster) and he wants Savage at his best so he can beat him at his best. You’ll get your wish, Hulkster. (9) JAKE THE SNAKE VS ANDRE THE GIANT Big John Studd comes out to ref and Gorilla makes the joke he used to about getting weighed on the meat scale. Of course, Studd won the Royal Rumble and chose refereeing this over a title shot. I kid. Andre out with The Brain who’s 1-1 so far, Monsoon says snakes are “Cardiac arrest time” for The Giant. In a timeline where he’d crossed over with The Undertaker, he’d probably have feared caskets too. Jake out next and the look in his face that would scare most opponents, The Body says won’t bother Andre. Andre attacks before the bell anyway, and dominates with punches, chops and a chinlock as the comms guys notice somehow one turnbuckle pad is missing. Jess says Jake has no chance against a giant and when Monsoon offers David & Goliath, Jesse says “He used a foreign object too.” Eventually we get the inevitable choking too. Jake fires back with a punch flurry, and a running shoulder tackle causes Andre to get tangled in the ropes, as he enjoyed to, and Roberts gives the big man a taste of choking in return. The Snake punches him a couple of times then sells hurting his hand on the monster’s cranium - nice. Andre obviously gets the advantage back after a distraction from Heenan allows him to grab a choke and when Monsoon argues the toss that both men have an unfair edge in their corners The Body won’t have it ; “I used to like broadcasting with you, you’re getting WORSE than McMahon!” ROFL! More of the usual chokes and butt drops and the inevitable traps hold for a rest. Shoulder barges in the corner give Jake another opening with a kneelift, then more punches and he bonks Andre’s noggin on the exposed buckle. Andre goes down in instalments from his wobbly base, great selling. Jake gets too close and a punch to the gut then a reverse knifeedge sends him out between the ropes. Andre keeps preventing Jake getting back in, John Studd (a non factor thus far) does what he’s meant to and not what Bonello did last year and warns Andre to let him back in. Frustrated, Roberts grabs his Damian bag and thinks about bringing the python into play. Distracted by Jake, Studd gets a shove in the back from Andre. He returns fire, and distracted by the two behemoths Jake falls victim to the Million Dollar Man running down and stealing the bag. Jake runs up the aisle after him as Studd gets (yes) distracted by The Brain on the apron. Rather than wait for the inevitable count out win, Andre decides he’d rather choke out ref Studd. Jake comes back, bag recovered, unleashes Damian and the heels scatter. Studd declares Jake winner by DQ. There were a couple of nice parts - both men did some good selling - but as this point André matches are plodding, so I can’t fully endorse this as worth watching unless you’re a completionist of either. Finish was never going to be a proper one, whole thing seemed only to exist to set up impending Roberts vs DiBiase and Studd vs Andre programs, neither of which ended up lasting long. Sean Mooney is up in the “Bob Uecker seats” (his words) and tries to grab a word with fans - always a mistake. A seemingly pissed up simpleton offers nothing more than saying “Jake’s the best” four times over. Mooney wisely sends it back - upstairs? Downstairs? Sideways? - to Gorilla, and Tony Schiavone - BY GOLLY! - is randomly with Sensational Sherri. Her words for champ Robin include “She can’t sing any better than she can wrestle” and then (forebode) she has a pop at Liz, saying people call her beautiful but Sherri is “hot and vicious” - fair. We abruptly cut back to the convention hall, as Jimmy Hart has his men half way to the ring. (10) THE HART FOUNDATION VS HONKY TONK MAN & GREG VALENTINE If you're wondering why I didn't type Rhythm & Blues, it's because they aren't yet. We're nearly a year away from that, in fact. Fink announces a “tag team contest” - looks like I’m not getting my “tag team attraction” this year. Shame. This is the closest we’re getting to a blow off between the Harts and The Mouth, even though the real feud had been with the Rougeaus. Bret leads with an O’Conner roll, atomic drop and inverted atomic drop and dropkick to Valentine then tags Anvil so they can do the assisted slingshot tackle. Hitman plants Hammer with a pendulum backbreaker but misses the swinging version of the middle rope elbow (as he always did) and the heat is on. Gorilla alludes, as ever, to Hammer needing 7-8 minutes just to get warmed up. During the heel advantage Honky Tonk does the same single arm fireman carry/suplex hybrid the Blazer did - he must have been watching. He’ll need technical skill, he’s on the road with Bret in the summer. “Come on Sparta!” implores Gorilla over poor Freddie allowing two men in the ring. In discussion over Honkys ICT reign, when Monsoon drops that he held it longer than Pat Patterson, The Body says “Pat Patterson?? He was a relic!” Honk hits the Shake Rattle N Roll but for reasons unknown elects to tag instead of pin. Greg turns his shin guard round and goes for the Figure 4 but Bret flips him over. Great banter again on pinning after the finish, Jess says he’d have had to be 72 to be around to sustain Monsoon’s big splash, Gino replies “You’re rapidly approaching that flag pole.” Hitman goes for an O’Conner roll on Hammer but he hooks the ropes, when Bret rolls through he simply makes the tag to big Jim who unloads with dropkicks to both of Jimmys men then a tackle and a clothesline to Valentine for 2. He’s briefly isolated but gets Bret back in for a bodyslam and driving middle rope elbow on Honky then a nice suplex. Chaos shortly erupts - Anvil chases the Mouth around the ring then grabs the megaphone which Jimmy left for Honky, chucks it to Bret, and with Sparta tied up with Valentine my hero waffles Honky with it and gets the pin. Two years later of course Jimmy will learn from this and make sure he has TWO foreign objects with him to battle Bret & Jim. Accomplished what it needed to, didn’t outstay its welcome - fun little popcorn match between two of the serious ones. A recap shows the violence that followed the posedown between Warrior and Ravishing at the Rumble, and the match is on! (11) ICT : ULTIMATE WARRIOR VS RICK RUDE “This is the reason we’re all here” says Ventura as an overdub plays of like a crap WCW tribute to The Stripper - although that’s unfair, Simply Ravishing was a belter. “High rolling Atlantic City sweathogs” is probably not Rick’s best. Famously Rude’s tights have the belt airbrushed on them. “Here comes the maniac!” says Jesse as Warrior comes down. Ravishing tries a sneak attack but knees the belt in error! Warrior punches, shoves him into the buckles and clamps on a bear hug. When Monsoon accuses The Body of picking the Powers of Pain earlier his retort is “You got that in writing?” Rude goes to the eyes then hits - HOLY SHIT - a dropkick off the top rope. Champ kicks out and retaliates with two bodyslams then goes back to bear hug. Once free Rude falls victim to biting then a huge backdrop but Warrior goes for his splash way too soon and Rick gets his knees up. HOLY SHIT - piledriver follows for 2. Jawbreaker, then the Rude swivel. Nice left arm clothesline and a Russian legsweep get Ravishing more nearfalls and Rude applies the “arms pulled back” kneeling surfboard but Warrior reaches the ropes and shakes them to get his second wind. Flying tackle, drives Rude to the mat face first, backbreaker and a clothesline off a whip - Warrior dominates. Head first to the corner, another whip followed by somewhat of a proto Pounce, but he misses a bit of a Stinger Splash. Ravishing goes for the Rude Awakening but Warrior powers out and hits a clothesline - Rude to the floor. Back in and a second sends Ravishing over the rope to the floor ; thus follows a fabulously famous finish. Warrior tries to suplex Rude back in, The Brain grabs the foot, “Look at Heenan!” yells Monsoon as Bobsy holds Jim’s foot down as Joey counts the 3!!! The Body goes nuts shouting “He did it! He did it! I called it Monsoon! I told you they’d outsmart him, Gorilla!” as Rude is announced victorious … I’d say it’s my favourite combo of heel win plus commentary reaction but that would not be fair to Flair. Warrior gives Heenan the Gorilla Press ; Rudes already nowhere to be seen. “And Heenans still got to wrestle here yet today!” Warrior sprints up the ramp but it’s too late. I remembered it as inferior to the SummerSlam rematch but it was still very good. Who’d have thought that Rude would have better chemistry with Warrior than with a pro like Jake The Snake?? Replay then straight into aisle for entrances for the next one. (12) HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN VS BAD NEWS BROWN Here’s Brets old sparring partner Bad News snarling down to the ring. Fun fact ; they didn't change scheduled house shows with Bad News challenging Savage after the Savage heel turned aired, and Observer notes at the time record that Randy had made such an impact in turning that Bad News was getting proper cheers against him. LOL, Bad News Babyface. I fucking hated him as a kid because (early smark warning) I couldn’t get my head round why nobody was ever allowed to beat him - counted out in two consecutive Survivor Series, non finishes with Hot Rod and Jake. What was so special about this guy?? Hacksaw Duggan (ugh) marches on down, Monsoon calls him "the policeman" - funny, I don't recall policemen carrying planks. We saw a copper earlier, it was Boss Man. Whatever. Bad News attacks Duggan at the bell and the brawl starts. Hacksaw returns fire reversing a whip into the corner and hitting a clothesline. The tide turns a couple more times through more brawling. Outside the ring there's more brawling. Bad News goes for the Ghetto Blaster setting up by bouncing off the ropes first, which I've not seen him do before. Duggan ducks, adopts the three point stance and hits another clothesline. Brown goes to the floor and he's had enough (so have I) and comes back in wielding a chair. Tim White warns him not to use it. Duggan grabs his 2x4. Really amateur duel where both men actively look like they're just aiming for the others weapon, Tim calls for the bell. Fink says the ref "has disqualified BOTH men" and leaves it there, refreshingly omitting the superfluous "ruling this bout a double disqualification." Ironically in the post match squabble there's a wrestling move - an atomic drop by Hacksaw. Yawn. I mean, it was too short to actively bore but you wouldn't choose to watch it. There was probably less decent wrestling here than the average Sable match. More wrestling than Fully Loaded 98, but less enjoyment. Backstage Mean Gene interviews the Red Rooster who clucks his way on, says something about celebrating in "the barnyard" tonight then clucks off. For fuck's sake. (13) RED ROOSTER VS BOBBY HEENAN The Brain comes down accompanied by the Brooklyn Brawler. Gorilla speculates that the wounded Weasel might attempt to get out of the match and use Brawler as his proxy - which would have made sense. Terrific Terry comes down, and I must admit I like the melody of his theme - it's funny that Rooster got an entrance theme quicker than longer serving faces like Hacksaw. Rooster takes immediate advantage because he's a wrestler and Bobby isn't. Whips him once, his second is reversed, and The Brain charges himself shoulder first into the ring post. Rather than punish his wicked ex manager, Rooster just goes straight for the pin and wins, about 90 seconds all in. Huh. The Brawler attacks him and chucks him out, then the Rooster comes back into the ring and scares him off without getting any actual offence in on the most famous JTTS of all time. Well, what a slice of nothing that was. At least Terry can say he won a match at WrestleMania. Okerlund interviews Elizabeth backstage who will be ringside supporting BOTH men, and just prays that neither of the MegaPowers get seriously injured. From the telly build up - bask in the lovely Liz going neutral, a delicious chocolate Switzerland nestled between two sets of rugged Alps ; For reasons unknown Okerlund sends it to Tony Schiavone - BY GOLLY! - only for HIM to send it to Sean Mooney on the arena floor - he takes a quick poll of the fans about who will win and the loudest children are for Hulk but pleasingly some shouts of "Macho Man!" can be heard. We go back up to the lads (14) WWFHT : RANDY SAVAGE VS HULK HOGAN Here we go, the first in a three-Mania succession of the three matches between three giant figures of the era. Champion out first which surprises Ventura, Fink announces him as "Macho Man Randy Savage" which jars me because I always think of trunks-version as Randy "Macho Man" Savage before the Macho King era, and "Macho Man Randy Savage" as all long tights, cowboy hat and tassles. Not only is Savage out first, Elizabeth gets her own entrance chaperoned by the relic himself, and Jess calls her a gold digger and implies she's leaving with the winner - which, in a way, is correct. Gorilla says "sounds rather clever to me" which I find off. He should deny the deviousness, not endorse it. For some reason Real American cuts in at "... I can't let it slide!" of the first verse and the challenger comes stomping down. At long last we have the full blown "From Venice Beach, California.... weighing 303lbs... HULK HOGAN!" from Howard. Monsoon insists, as ever, "in my book, the greatest professional athlete in the world today" and The Body says "Lust Hogan!" Gino tells Jesse he's jealous, an irate Ventura says "How much lower can you go, to go after your best friend's woman?" Face to face at the bell and a nice call from Jesse ; "This is truly what the word (sic) "main event" was meant for. This IS the main event. It don't get no bigger." Macho Man is heavily taped because he's got an infection in his right elbow and is going straight to the hospital after this match - SHIT. A bit of stalling at the bell from Savage which we'll see a couple of times. Strength advantage from Hogan, Macho eye rakes to get a headlock and bails again as Hogan gets free, when The Hulkster follows him Randy puts Liz between them, not for the last time. Back in, Hogan goes from headlock to hammerlock to drop toehold rather smoothly, into a front facelock, but when he lets it become a headlock Savage drops him with a hard back suplex, but misses a running elbowdrop. Hogan gets an armwringer which Savage escapes with a poke in the eye then a quick kick and very early on, gets off a double axe handle from the top rope. Armbar slapped on, Randy maintains help with the hair until the challenger slings him through the ropes with help from the tights. Back in, Hogan runs him into the buckles, smashes him with an Axe Bomber then does his combo of 2 elbowdrops then teasing the third but racking the face with his boot. Hogan puts his head down, Savage boots him in the face then hits a running flying clothesline for 2 ; Hogan's bleeding, just like that. Randy wears him down with a chinlock. Jesse says there will be finally be two champions he likes - Savage and Rude - if Macho retains. "Those are champions kids can be proud of." LOL! Hogan catches the boot and hits an atomic drop but misses a running elbowdrop. A knee sends Hogan to the buckle and Savage gets another 2 off a schoolboy. Punches to the laceration follow, Savage does his finger twirling pose to draw more heat. Savage gets distracted remonstrating with both Liz and Earl Hebner, Hogan smashes his head into the top turnbuckle six times, hits a few punches then whips the WWF Champion into the corner and follows in with a clothesline ; Savage lies limp over the middle rope, great visual. Hogan slams Savage over the top rope - Savage does hit feet first but it still looks good. Liz tries to comfort Savage but he isn't interested. Hogan tries to run Macho Man into the post Snake Eyes style but Liz stands in the way - Savage shoves Hogan into it. Savage really gets in Liz' face, holding her by the chin as if he wants to hit her. Earl orders Savage back in the ring and loudly tells Elizabeth "You, leave the ring area" - refreshingly understated compared to later instances of "YOU! OUT!" with OTT gesticulations. Savage nails the big axe handle to the floor sending Hogan into the railing - Hulk starts selling the throat - rolls Hogan back in and hits the Macho neck snap, sits him across the middle rope and hits the running vertical splash to the back of the neck. Bodyslam and a peach of a kneedrop, Hulkster clutches his throat and the champ gets a 2. "There's a Jesse The Body move right there, Gorilla!" says Ventura as Savage chokes Hogan with his wrist tape. Savage simply chokes Hogan to his back, breaking at 4, then heads up top. "If he hits this, Gorilla, its over!" Jess is convinced. "Puke-a-mania will die right here!" Picture perfect elbow off the top, I feel Savage's legitimate pain on that one. Cover and - let's be honset - Hogan kicks out at 1. Hulkster hulk up, ignores Macho Man's punches, waves the finger of "no" at him. Block, three punches, whip and a big boot that Savage hits the deck hard from. Legdrop, 1-2-3. "This makes me sick!" exclaims The Body. "NEW World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion, Hulk Hogan!!" booms Fink. Belt round Hogan's waist, Savage storms off as officials usher him away (including Tony Garea) and the finger pointing seems to suggest very clearly it isn't really over. Meltzer went just 2 3/4 and said "it’s beyond stupid to pin Savage clean when he’s selling out arenas every night." Oh piss off, you idiot. You want to pin Hogan, or do you do a fuck finish on a PPV of this level with the world watching? The match is here if you fancy it ; With that, we're out. I guess that Mr Perfect interview where he talks about his forthcoming matches with Bret must have been a Coliseum exclusive, taken from the original broadcast recording as this version was. Also deepest apologies but I didn't actually catch during which match Jesse said hi to Teri, Tyrell and Jade. But let's not let that take the gloss off a very satisfying Mania indeed. A world of improvement from last year's snooze, several enjoyable matches featuring few guys and crucially when it counted - the ICT and World title matches - delivered for entertainment. Might be nearing the peak. NUMBER OF WRESTLEMANIAS WATCHED : 5 NUMBER OF WRESTLEMANIAS GENUINELY ENJOYED : 3 (60%) NUMBER OF MATCHES WATCHED : 63 NUMBER OF MATCHES GENUINELY ENJOYED : 34 (54%) What did the house shows typically look like out the back end of this Mania? Quote April post Mania, at first little has changed. Two TVs have dark matches of Hulk Hogan vs Big Boss Man in a cage, Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior (which has changed from two champions to neither with a belt) and Andre The Giant vs Big John Studd. Andre takes a crew to Italy straight after Mania and TVs but only two reports are available. 7th in Turin have Demolition defend against Andre & Haku (first report of the Colossal Connection tagging), Rick Rude vs Bret Hart (fuck) and Warrior vs Boss Man, 8th in Milan it’s a more obvious Demolition v Powers of Pain, Rude vs Warrior and the Andre vs Bret match you may have seen on DVD or YouTube. It’s the traditional slow start to road dates after Mania. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage rematches for the belt are what everyone wants to see. 14,000 to Philadelphia on 22nd, 19,000 in Toronto on 23rd, 16,000 at MSG 24th, 15,000 in Detroit on 29th and 8300 at the more modest Richfield Coliseum on 30th all see Savage win by count-out with interference from Savage’s new cohort Sherri Martel. To sell the rematches. Near 11,000 come to the Boston Garden on 22nd for Rick Rude vs Ultimate Warrior (count out) and Demolition vs The Twin Towers (DQ) plus the start of the Tito Santana vs Rick Martel grudge matches, most of which will be won by tricky Ricky. Identical cards run some small towns and the Montreal Forum on 30th along with Beefcake v Bad News, Rockin Robin v Judy Martin, Barbarian getting a look in singles against the Anvil, and the first matches for The Genius gimmick, squashing Jim Powers. Your other main events are usually Andre vs Studd plus a random Savage vs Barber 27th in Portland and 28th in Providence. There are no C shows. In terms who’s working who - coming out of Mania we’ve got Million Dollar Man with Jake the Snake, the much lauded Mr Perfect vs Bret Hart run, and with the tag teams rotated the Rockers start a run with the Rougeaus. Unfortunately this leaves Arn & Tully with the Bushwhackers - and you know what? It’s disturbing how often they lose to them. Ron Garvins lost his “retirement match” to Valentine on TV so he’s doing the ref gimmick, and you’ve variously also got Duggan vs Haku, Warlord with Koko, Rooster with the Brawler and Hercules stuck with Bravo. Martel and Tito are obviously doing their grudge match and first TV after Mania they put Martel with Slick. Lastly of note: dark on 25th TV in Des Moines, as well as Andre vs Studd and Savage vs Warrior, there’s the first defence for Demolition against Tully & Arn (Horsemen by DQ) and the return of Superfly Snuka, murdering Boris Zhukov in about 90 seconds. Pun intended. The next night in Omaha they tape Hacksaw beating Haku for the crown, though it doesn’t air til 13th May. WHAT WAS UK NUMBER ONE ON THE DAY OF THIS MANIA? Fitting, lets go from one banger straight to another... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fzeNUqQbQ Quote
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