indiana | proffitspiledriver

Tag Archives: indiana

Wrestlemania 8 (Written by: Maurice D. Proffit)

12 Mar

Wrestlemania 8

Date: April 5^th, 1992

Cities: Indianapolis, Indiana

Venue: Hoosier Dome

Combined Attendance: 62,167

Sub-Theme: “Friendship Torn Apart, The Macho/Flair Affair, Hulkamania Farewell”

Celebrities: Reba McIntyre and Ray Combs

Wrestlemania 8 was the return of wrestlemania coming to a massive dome arena. This was the first wrestlemania to feature a double main event and the first wrestlemania where the world wrestling federation champion was not involved in the closing match. In my opinion, this Wrestlemania missed the mark on so many levels.

The back story of this wrestlemania is what started the fire. The 1992 Royal Rumble had a stipulation where the winner to the Rumble would win the World Wrestling Federation Championship. Going in to the Rumble, Hulk Hogan was the odds on favorite to win it, but with a shocking turn of events, Ric Flair beat the odds and lasted over 60 min, to win the vacant WWF Championship. A couple weeks later, the contract signing for the main event at Wrestlemania took place for the inevitable dream match (that wrestling fans have been dying for) Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship. However, due to poor responses at house shows between the two, the championship main event was scrapped, and replacing Hogan would be Randy “Macho Man” Savage for the title and Hogan would face “former best friend” Sid Justice.

Wrestlemania had some flaws, however, one thing that was absolutely flawless was the match for the Intercontinental Championship, Rowdy Roddy Piper (champion) vs Bret “The Hitman” Hart. The quality of and story of this match was reminiscent of Savage and Steamboat 5 years earlier; different, yet familiar. In my opinion, this and the championship match stole the show. In a bloody battle, Bret Hart went on to win the IC belt for the 2^nd time.

Taker Moment: The Undertaker went against Jake The Snake Roberts in a grudge match. Undertaker tombstone Jake outside the ring, and placed him back in the ring for the 1-2-3 pin fall victory. Undertaker is 2-0 at wrestlemania.

Macho Man Randy Savage and Ric Flair gave an excellent 20 min match, with a very intense story. Leading up to the match, and to give it a little more spice, Flair made allegations that him and Liz had a very romantic past with each other and claimed to have rekindled the relationship. Flair had doctored up photos of him and Liz and had them published in the WWF magazines. This drove Savage insane and was willing to do anything to Flair to extract revenge. Savage did such a fine job at selling the match, that his intensity showed that getting his hands on Flair meant more to him than winning the WWF Championship. In another wrestlemania quality match, Savage stole the show, and he won the World Wrestling Federation championship. Even after being declared the victor, Savage still wanted more of Flair. It took Mr. Perfect from getting Flair and fleeing ringside to save him and Elizabeth and refs to stop Savage to calm him down in risk of the decision being reversed. But the overall was that we had a new champion.

Wrestlemania closed out with Sid Justice vs Hulk Hogan in a grudge match. This match was being billed as the end of the Hulkamania tour as Hogan was going to “retire” (aka: take some time off). This match missed a lot of queues and seriously should’ve been in the middle of the card. Papa Shango made an interference in the match but was REALLY late making his interference into the match, leading to Hogan winning via Disqualification. This was also the return of the Ultimate Warrior. When Shango and Sid were beating on Hogan, the Warrior returned and saved Hogan. Now in credit, this was before the Internet era, so this surprise was a really big deal, and I can only imagine what the good fans in the Hoosier Dome were feeling when his music hit and he ran to ringside. I also heard that Sid crapped in his pants in this match, I guess it was just symbolic of the collective feel of everyone’s opinion of the match. (womp-womp)