Wrestlemania 8 (Written by: Maurice D. Proffit)

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)

Match Card

Dark: The Bushwhackers (Luke Williams and Butch Miller) defeated The Beverly Brothers

–Shawn Michaels (with Sensational Sherri) defeated El Matador

–The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Jake Roberts

–Bret Hart defeated Roddy Piper (c)

–The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jim Duggan defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), Repo Man, and The Mountie (with Jimmy Hart)

–Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Ric Flair (c) (with Mr. Perfect)

–Tatanka defeated Rick Martel

–The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) defeated Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) (c) (with Jimmy Hart) by countout

–Owen Hart defeated Skinner

–Hulk Hogan defeated Sid Justice (with Harvey Wippleman) by disqualification

Wrestlemania VI (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

Wrestlemania 6

Date: April 1^st , 1990

Cities: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Venue: Toronto Sky Dome

Combined Attendance: 67,678

Sub-Theme: “The Ultimate Challenge”

Celebrities: Steve Allen, Robert Goulet and Rona Barrett

Wrestlemania 6 was the first Wrestlemania to be held on international soil, taking place in Toronto, Canada. This Wrestlemania can be looked at as the most remembered wrestlemania among casual wrestling fans and people in general. This was the first time when the main event pitted the two most popular stars at the time (and arguably the two most popular in history among casual wrestling fans) against each other. We’re taking “The Ultimate Challenge”; World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior vs The World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan. Title for Title. In which both the IC and The World Title would be on the line. One man would leave with both belts. Very non-traditional in terms of a champion vs champion match. Normally a match of this caliber, the secondary title would not be on the line. But because this match was a matter of Which power was greater? Hulkamania or The Power of the Warrior? This match has to be the underline answer. Thus both titles are on the line.

Personally, yes, I felt this wrestlemania was memorable, in terms of the main event. You didn’t necessarily see a “good guy” vs “good guy” main event during this day and age. With both men being the most popular in the company, fans had no other choice but to choose a side for this match. It was a clear 50/50 split of whom the crowd was pulling for. However, the rest of the card was pretty forgettable. I did enjoy The Million Dollar Man “Ted DiBiase vs Jake “The Snake” Roberts match. It was a grounded wrestling match, given enough time to tell a decent story in the ring, as opposed to some of the other matches that only lasted about 3-4 min.

When I watched this earlier, it made me think of how much of a missed opportunity the WWF made, regarding Savage vs Rhodes. I know it’s an apples and oranges comparison, but if the NWA has their hands on that match, that match would’ve headlines Starrcade, easily.

I was not yet a wrestling fan when this came on, but I remember my classmates in elementary school were, and looking back on that now, reminds me of the Rock/Cena divide now (without FB an twitter, of course). Kids arguing back and forth over who was better, Hogan or Warrior.

Hogan beat so-n-so; Warrior beat so-n-so. Hogan was two time world champ; Warrior was the two time IC champ. Hogan was stronger; warrior was stronger. The match up itself really left you wondering, who would be the winner? The real winner were the fans. But after a 20+ min battle of strength and drama, The Ultimate Warrior was that much of the better man to stand victorious as he defeated the Immortal Hulk Hogan to win the World Wrestling Federation championship title.

Match Card

Dark Match:  Paul Roma defeated The Brooklyn Brawler

–Rick Martel defeated Koko B. Ware

–Demolition (Ax and Smash) defeated The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) (c) (with Bobby Heenan) to win the WWF Tag Team Championships

–Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Hercules

–Brutus Beefcake defeated Mr. Perfect (with The Genius)

–Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown fought to a double countout.

–The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov).

–The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Tito Santana

–Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri

–The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) by countout

–Jim Duggan defeated Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart and Earthquake)

–Ted DiBiase (c) (with Virgil) defeated Jake Roberts by countout, to retain the Million Dollar Championship

–The Big Boss Man defeated Akeem (with Slick)

–Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Jimmy Snuka

–The Ultimate Warrior (Intercontinental Champion) defeated Hulk Hogan (WWF Champion) to win the WWF Championship

 

 

 

Wrestlemania V (Written By: Maurice D. Proffit)

WRESTLEMANIA 5

 
Date: April 2nd, 1989
Cities: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Venue: Trump Plaza
Combined Attendance: 18,946
Sub-Theme: “The Mega Powers Explode”
Celebrities: Run-DMC; Morton Downey, Jr. and Donald Trump
 
 
Wrestlemania 5 was the culmination of a one year story line that surrounded The Mega Powers. The Mega Powers was the tag team formed together of the then World Wrestling Federation Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. With this being a year round storyline, it was fitting that this story concludes at the venue where it started. In addition this was the only two wrestlemania to be held at the same venue for consecutive years.
 
After Randy Savage won the 14 man tournament at Wrestlemania 4, shortly after that he joined forces with Hulk Hogan and together, as the Mega Powers, they took on various heel tag teams in the company. However as time continued to go on, the tension between Savage ad Hogan continued to rise, more so on Savages part. At 1/7/89 Saturday nights main event, Hogan was in a one on one match with Akeem “The African Dream”. And took a beating by both him and his tag team partner “The Big Boss Man”. Savage came to Hogans rescue with a steel chair, and whil Savage cleared the ring, Elixabeth (Savages valet) escorted Hogan to the medic in the back. Savage was upset with this. Issues carried over to the Royal Rumble that year when Hogan accidently eliminated Macho and they had words as well, but it all cleared up. The last straw was at the Feb 3 edition of “The Main Event”. The match was The Mega Powers vs The Twin Towers, during the match, Liz was accidently knocked out when the Twin towers threw Savage outside the ring. Hogan carried Liz to the medic in the back and left Savage to be pummeled by the Twin Towers. When Hogan returned to the match, Savage had the opportunity to tag out, but instead slapped Hogan in the face and left ringside. In the medic, Savage got into a verbal confrontation with Hogan, with Liz right there, accusing Hogan of having a relatonsyhip with Liz. Hogan denied, and with Savage in a jelous rage, attached Hogan with the WWF Championship. The Mega Powers were no more.
 
This brings us to Wrestlemania 5, with an overly stacked card of 14 matches.  Im sure the WWF got a pretty solid deal to bring Wrestlemania to Trump Plaza two years in a row and was great business for the venue and casino. So great in fact that once again, we see Donald Trump and his associates and NOW Ivana (or was that WM 4?) encomopassing the first 3-4 rows. And us viewers at home get a strong eye full of them not paying attention and or missing for half the PPV, but are there for the main event at least. I get you guys are rich and rich people always have to appear busy, but geez, lighten up a little!
Personally, one of my favorite matches was for the Intercontinental Championship, The Ultimate Warrior (champion) vs Ravishing Rick Rude. Rude carried this match very well and made the limited Warrior look especially strong. The highlight was Bobby Heenan’s interference in the match, which costed The Warrior the title and Rude is the new champion.

The Main event is for the WWF Championship. Champion, Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs Challenger Hulk Hogan. I think this was the first main event match of wrestlemania with a heightened amount of emotion behind it. Savage and Hogan played a character that all men can relate to. One being the very erratic and irrational jelouse boyfriend and one being the misunderstood, see it from my angel, but im going to defend my honor kind of guy. As much as it plays out as a shakesphere play, this match was full of intensity. I personally think that Randy really BROUGHT IT in this match. Savage dug deep in emotions in this match and really sold it to us the viewers that he would be willing to do anything to keep the WWF title, where as with Hogan, at times it looked as if he was just picking up his belt and leaving. I think Jesse The Body Venturas commentary said it all in this match when he praised the work and achievements of Savage at the beginning of the match and stated that Hogan just coatailed his way to this championship match, and who in the hell was Elizabeth before she got with Savage??? Wow…I miss that kind of commentary. In the end after a brutal battle, it would be Hulk Hogan who stands in victory and win the World Wrestling Federation Championship for the 2nd time.
 
 
Match Card
 
-Hercules defeated King Haku (with Bobby Heenan)
 
– The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man) (with Slick) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
 
– Brutus Beefcake and Ted DiBiase (with Virgil) fought to a double countout
 
– The Bushwhackers (Luke Williams and Butch Miller) defeated The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) (with Jimmy Hart)[
 
– Mr. Perfect defeated The Blue Blazer
 
– Demolition (Ax and Smash) (c) defeated The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian) and Mr. Fuji[
 
– Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin) defeated Ronnie Garvin
 
– The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana)
 
– Jake Roberts defeated André the Giant (with Bobby Heenan) by disqualification
 
– The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine (with Jimmy Hart)
 
– Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) defeated The Ultimate Warrior to win the Intercontinental Championship
 
– Jim Duggan and Bad News Brown fought to a double disqualification
 
– The Red Rooster defeated Bobby Heenan (with The Brooklyn Brawler)[
 
– Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage (c) To win the World Wrestling Federation Championship.