It was someone's bright idea to schedule a 14-man tournament for the Heavyweight title. Unless that guy's name was "McMahon", I'm sure he doesn't work for the company anymore.
This was one of the perils of the old days and the two hours of WWF television (four if you were lucky enough to have the USA Network and a little more if you had USA and MSG), they couldn't par the 14-men down to 8 or better yet four because you just don't give that many good matches away on free TV.
In hindsight six would have worked perfect -- Andre, Hogan, Savage, DiBiase...who else, maybe keep Steamboat and Valentine. This way you had Steamboat-DiBiase and Savage-Valentine in the first round, still do the Andre-Hogan double DQ in Round two and have the same final.
Now there's room on the card for Rick Rude and Jake Roberts to have better match and probably boost up that Cheryl Roberts-centered feud. Could have still booked One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigelow for some clash of big men. It wasn't that the tournament idea was bad, it was just boring because common booking made sure that the first round matches were wrestled conservatively because every guy wanted to preserve their energy.
Anyway, time to move on.
Wrestlemania IV
From The Trump Plaza and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on March 27, 1988
Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
WWF Championship: Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase
Interesting procession with Robin Leach introducing the WWF Championship belt, Bob Uecker being the guest ring announcer for the second year in a row and Vanna White…doing something, timekeeper I guess. DiBiase has Andre in his corner since Hogan punked out Virgil earlier in the evening. Savage has Elizabeth of course…I’m thinking DiBiase has a slight intimidation advantage when it comes to corner representatives. DiBiase has wrestled twice, getting a bye through the semifinals and Savage is on his fourth match of the night. I loved Gorilla and Ventura as my announce team. They had the perfect mix of banter and commentary. Heenan and Gorilla were great because of their obvious chemistry and ribbing but Gorilla and Ventura were better for big events.
Lockup to start and Savage elbows his way out of the corner but Andre quickly gets involved and hooks Savage’s leg. Crowd is already chanting for Hogan, thus assuring another five Wrestlemania main events for him. Wrestling sequence and Savage with a shoulderblock but Andre grabs the leg again and stops the momentum. Back to the action and they fight over an armbar. DiBiase sends Savage into the buckle and lays in the chops. Clothesline by DiBiase gets a two count but Savage catches DiBiase on the sunset flip with a punch. Clothesline by Savage gets a near fall and we break. Another lockup and DiBiase with a knee and a chop to send him to the canvas. Back elbow and second one to the head. DiBiase sends Savage into the buckle but Savage ducks the clothesline and hits a running elbow. Savage with the top rope hangman and a high knee sends DiBiase to the floor. Savage goes to the top to do damage but Andre dares him to jump and he thinks better of it. In modern day booking Savage would have jumped and hit Andre with the axe handle just to get this awful crowd going. Savage sends Elizabeth to the back. Hmmm I wonder why. DiBiase jumps Savage with an elbow and hits three fist drops for a two count. Crowd chants Hogan again while DiBiase gives Savage a snapmare and slaps on the chin lock. Elizabeth returns with Hogan. DiBiase releases the hold upon seeing Hogan. Back to the match DiBiase continues to hammer away on Savage and Andre tries more dirty tricks but Hogan is there to put an end to it. Clothesline by DiBiase and an elbow drop gets two. Vertical suplex gets another near fall. Gut-wrench suplex by DiBiase gets two. Scoop slam by DiBiase and he goes to the top, Savage catches him with a slam and HE goes to the top by misses the flying elbow. DiBiase slaps on the Million Dollar Dream and while Andre distracts the ref, Hogan wallops DiBiase with the chair. Big elbow finishes it and gives Savage his first World championship.
(Savage def. DiBiase, pinfall, **1/2, they would have much better matches in the future once they developed a better feel for each other. Their rematch at MSG the next month was excellent, over four starts in my opinion. But on this night their pacing was off and the crowd was dead and exhausted at this point.)
BONUS MATCH~!
The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules
Yes, I’d be hard pressed not to include the Warrior’s WM debut. Even his entrance can’t bring a pop from this comatose crowd. They do a little macho sequence with shoulder blocks because that’s EXACTLY what this crowd needs. Not. They wrangle over a lockup and Hercules gets a cheap shot that’s no sold so Warrior casually shoves the referee out of the way and lays into Hercules, he ducks a clothesline however and hits Warrior with three of his own, the third putting Warrior to the canvas. Hercules goes for a short-armed clothesline but Warrior beats him to the punch in a terrible spot. Another sloppy clothesline from Warrior and they botch a body slam/hangman. Hercules back drops Warrior over the top but he lands on his feet. Warrior pulls Hercules out and rams him into the steps twice. Back in the ring and Hercules gets a shot to the throat. They trade forearms but neither guy has a clue what the other is doing. Finally Warrior gets the 10 punches in the corner spot but Hercules fights back with a reverse atomic drop. Warrior reverses a corner whip but misses a charge. Hercules goes for the full nelson and Warrior pulls out the Bret Hart rollup reversal for three?!!?! That was unexpected. Hercules cheap shots Warrior and tries to choke him out with the chain but Warrior easily fights that off. Jesse notes the rivalry is far from over. God help us.
(Warrior def. Hercules, pinfall, DUD. Would have been negative stars if not for the pinfall sequence, still Warrior should have went over strong here and he didn’t).
Yeah, the Warrior match is weird to watch in hindsight. I figured he got a huge push from Day 1, but apparently was treated as just another guy before his Jesus push.
I had the same feeling when I watched the 1988 Royal Rumble on Classics on Demand awhile back- Warrior comes in without any fanfare, doesn’t really do anything and gets eliminated sort of anonymously. Honky putting him over as he did really shot him into the stratosphere.
I also went **1/2 on this one. They had nothing left in the tank by this point.
THAT SAID, the ending of this match for me is such a joy to watch. Elizabeth was told a different ending and had no clue Randy was winning the belt, which makes it so cool.
Sadly, Hogan could NEVER let Savage have a moment in the sun and thus didn’t get out of the fucking ring. That took a lot away from it.
Well it’s easy to blame Hogan for that, but truth is the crowd was chanting his name the minute the match started and he was about the only thing that got a pop during the match. Savage probably still needed the rub a little bit. Blame the fans as much as you blame him. It was clear who they came to see.
One thing about Savage’s first reign that still puzzles me. He held the title for 371 days and only defended his title at one PPV — Wrestlemania V. Doing Savage-DiBiase alone and Hulk-Andre IV at Summerslam or giving him a throwaway title defense at the Royal Rumble might have helped that reign be more memorable.
It’s because the original plan for Summerlsam ‘88 was Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair. Flair has mentioned this MANY times (for those fuckwits who always scream SOURCE at me, read Flair’s book or watch any shoot he did).
Flair gave every indication he would jump and then ended up not jumping. That’s why the Summerslam main event felt thrown together. Flair was going to take the belt from Savage and face Hogan at Wrestlemania V.
Not sure that Flair is the most trustworthy source in the world, but I do believe that he was told that, if he joined, they would do Flair/Savage at Summerslam (I guess he was told this sometime after the “DiBiase wins the title at Wrestlemania” promise fizzled out?). But regardless of what he was told, I don’t believe that WWF was planning their PPV main events around a guy who had not even signed with the company yet.
Oh man, how awesome would that have been though? Savage/Flair in 1988 would have been crazy good.
Flair’s not the only one to talk about this. Many guys have.
I don’t know the exact timing, but Flair went into negotiations with WWE after Wrestlemania, not before, I’m pretty sure. And by his own admission he led the WWE on into thinking a deal would be made.
Why is someone a fuckwit for asking you to say where you get your information from?
This really makes no sense whatsoever. The Savage turning on Hogan was clearly planned from the beginning.
“That’s why the Summerslam main event felt thrown together. ”
They started building to that in MAY; I’m not so sure that even by 1988’s standards, that would qualify as “thrown together”.
Yeah it probably would have made more sense for Hogan to stand around outside the ring while the entire building CHANTED HOGAN! I mean, what more crowning moment can you have then hoisting the belt above your head while the arena chants for the other guy.
Man, you smarks just don’t get it sometimes.
The Rude/Roberts feud didn’t start until a month after WrestleMania IV.
Speaking of tournaments, they just replayed the first WWF PPV ever, the “WWF Classic” on WWE 24/7. Unlike WM IV, this had just as many people but for some reason was just plain fun to watch, even if most of the matches were very short.
For some reason, tournaments are just one of those things that sound great on paper, but when actually done leaves alot to be desired. From WWE IV, to the KOTR PPV’s (although they had their moments), to Starrcade 89, etc. They are usually just plain not fun to watch.
Single-night tournaments have obvious limitations, but if you’ve got a versatile wrestler with tons of stamina, they can work. Bret’s and Kurt’s KOTR wins both came at the end of good tournaments, I think.
And WM IV may suck, but it started the greatest single storyline in wrestling history. Can you imagine them keeping something going for a full year now?
You mean besides John Cena’s reign in 2006/2007? I don’t think I could see it happening, sadly. At least they will revisit things from time-to-time as HBK has been demonstrating since December.
I love Savage winning but this was the worst WM of all time in my opinion based on quality. It dragged like hell even as a kid I was bored rigged.
Two things about this event:
#1 — the booking is all wrong and if they’d shaken it up a bit and given us Savage/Steamboat 2 and cut out Rude/Roberts entirely you would have a much better show quality wise on your hands. Dibiase walking out with the title would have been interesting, but this was a great moment for Savage/Elizabeth too.
#2 — for whatever reason, of all the WrestleMania’s from 1 to 6, this is the most enjoyable for me to watch all the way through in one sitting. True, there are not a ton of worthwhile matches, but once again, the excellent commentary makes it a worthwhile one to view, even if you’re kinda doing something else while viewing it. It tells a nice story though, regarding Savage’s ascension to the top of the card, and basically does it over one night.
One note — One of the “Coliseum Exclusive” segments includes Bobby Heenan receiving his attack dog suit via FedEx backstage — it’s great and it’s not included on the DVD anthology.
Plus Steamboat was on his way out anyways, so why not give him an EPIC job to Randy Savage as payback for WrestleMania III.
Why would they want him to put on a quality performance on his way out of the company? And they never did face/face at this point anyway.
that is what i was thinking. They didn’t even let faces battle each other in rumbles until 92 or 93, much less in a match.
I didn’t notice it until Scott mentioned this in his original review but Heenan tips the delivery guy! Very out of character for a cheapskate like The Brain.
maybe it was supposed to be subtle though. The idea that Heenan is feeling so smug at this point with his package that he’d even tip someone.
You know. Outside of the main events of the early WMs, I always thought WM was a bad show. The undercards were terrible. And I really think I am the only person in the world that think Savage/Steamboat is boring. It just never held my attention for longer than 5 minutes.
And I like the performers. I love Flair and Harley but that Starrcade 83 cage match puts me to tears and to bed in about 3 minutes.
Anyways back to Wrestlemania. I always thought the main events delivered but the undercards were some of the worst.
Well I can’t say as I get how anyone could hate Steamboat/Savage but I think this holds up to some extent for some of the first 6 WrestleMania’s.
The undercard to WrestleMania I is pretty weak an WrestleMania II is just a bit better.
WrestleMania III actually has a GREAT under card, with several good matches — Hercules and Billy Jack Hayes, Harts/Bulldogs, Savage/Steamboat, plus historic stuff like Piper’s stuff and the JYD thing is fun as well.
WrestleMania IV has a somewhat tepid card, but the only really bad match (for me) is Jake Roberts / Rude.
WrestleMania V has a DOG of undercard, with lots of craptacular matches, and pretty much only two good matches the whole show — that being Strike Force vs Brainbusters and Hogan/Savage. Warrior/Rude is ok (but their SS89 match would be much better) and Perfect/Hart is just too short to leave much of an impression.
WrestleMania VI is probably the worst of the whole bunch, with only the mixed tag match having any entertainment value outside of the Demolition win (though a non-match really) and of course the phenomenal main event.
Luckily, by WrestleMania 7, they pretty much figured it out and produced a pretty even handed show most of the way, with the exception of the occasional squash match, but they are all kept short. Pacing wise, this show was a HUGE improvement over most of the previous installments.
you have to remember a couple things in regards to these early WMs. First off, the styles were different. Much slower, more plodding, etc. I haven’t ordered a WWF ppv since summerslam 2002 but I’ve watched many on DVD and the matches are typically pretty solid. The faster pace is just more interesting to me and many others than the old WWF 80s style.
Point two is that these shows were SO angle driven. On newer WMs there are matches without angles, matches with angles that started 2 weeks before the show, hell even the big angles generally are just about the belt or at best started at the Rumble. Back in the days of 4 (or less) ppvs, these WMs blew off feuds that had lasted months. As an example, WM3 has ONE match on the card that wasn’t a direct feud. The opener which was designed to get the Can-Am connection over. Most WMs at that time would have one, maybe two matches to get a newbie over like Bundy/SD Jones or Jake/George Wells at the first two shows. WM3 was the aboslute peak of my childhood wrestling fandom. I was 13 and lived for wrestling, particularly WWF. Matches like Billy jack Haynes/Hercules seemed huge at the time. Think about the WM3 card. You have the main event. You have the six man with Danny Davis that is culminating over a year of faces getting screwed by this crooked ref. You have the epic Piper/Adonis storyline (which for me was actually bigger than Hogan/Andre, I was such a piper mark). That angle lasted over six months. You had Savage/Steamboat, which was just huge with the bell to the throat. When I watch those early WMs I can just see the culmination of big, long, epic angles. When I see newer shows, even in the late 90s, much of the card was throwaway stuff. Sure maybe Shamrock/Bulldog was slightly better than Harley Race and JYD, but there just doesn’t seem to big that big match feel up and down the card. I think it’s a combination of too much focus on belts with so many titles, and just not enough buildup. So much of the buildup these days is about “legacy” and not about pure hatred. I’m sick of hearing about everyone’s legacy and place in history. I want to hear about how Sheamus threw someone through a window and now they want revenge, oh and their is a belt attached but the face doesn’t care that much. That to me is WM.
I have to agree about the feuds back then. They were built up for such a long time and that made the shows so much better. Now everything is just insta-feuds. It really devalues the show for me, I mean look back at Wrestlemania III, by this time of the year (mid Feb) we knew most of the card. Right now we know none of the matches for Wrestlemania, sure we can speculate on what we think will happen, but nothing concrete. Back then we had the Wrestlemania Report with Mene Gene who would announce matches that have been signed, and every match had a purpose. Not like the current Wrestlemanias where most of the matches are thrown together within the last two weeks. I guess I’m just a fan of the old school ways.
The Warrior/Hercules build up was actually quite good. They had a segment on Wrestling Challenge where Hercules choked Warrior out and Warrior chased him back. It felt very ahead of its time compared to everything else on Challenge. You can see it on WWEClassics.com or maybe on Classics on Demand if they aren’t past it yet?
I don’t know what’s gotten into the WWE, but this Raw tonight has been spectacular. Also, I loved the post-match interview with ShowMiz. I don’t know why they got away from doing those, but they are excellent.
WWE has been, dare I say it, on a hot streak since Jan. 4. I don’t think the timing is coincidental either.
The Shawn Michaels story is truly epic I honestly not sure where there heading. I mean the tension between him and HHH is about to explode pointing all directions to WM but surely HBK/Taker is set in stone?
Also if Taker/HBK is set in stone with this type of detailed slow burn build everything is pointing to HBK BEATING the Undertaker. It is unpredictable but so intreging I LOVE wrestling when it delivers like this.
I believe Shawn might be in the MitB match. Winning that and cashing it in that night against the Undertaker would work because it ends the streak without ending the mystique.
And it gives us Evil HBK, the Christian gone bad!
Holy crap, that’s a GREAT idea! The cashing in the MITB the same night, I mean.
WWE has tried to sell PPV’s on the mere potential for a great matchup before. At Wrestlemania IV, everyone and his grandma was sure that Savage and Steamboat would meet in a face vs face match in the quarterfinals. It failed to peak interest, and they compounded the problem by denying everyone of the dream rematch. You better believe that, if Shawn Michaels faces Undertaker at Wrestlemania, it will be a done deal before the show itself.
A more likely scenario: R-Truth is mysteriously laid out and left unconscious on the next Smackdown, knocking him out of the Chamber. Shawn Michaels somehow takes his place. But, continuing his streak of bad luck, HBK goes down to a fluke pin before Taker even enters the match. Taker retains, but Edge decides to face the WWE champion, leaving Taker without an opponent at Mania. A tournament of sorts is held, but by then HBK is completely insane, and just starts destroying participants to the point where a contender cannot be named. Finally a fed-up Undertaker tells Shawn “Fine, you want the match at Wrestlemania so bad, you got it. But on one condition. I’m putting up my title and my streak. You have to put something up too. Your soul. When you lose Shawn…you will come to the Dark Side.”
Or, if you don’t want to go that route, Shawn’s career instead. Whatever. The point is that you make it seem impossible that either guy can lose. And you set up the ultimate payoff with Michaels finally letting the streak Rest In Peace.
I gotta say I’m in favor of a title v career match at this stage of Shawns career, I felt (and still do) that he should have had a run with WWE Title in 2007 and beaten Cena at WrestleMania that year, the great thing would be with these stipulations is that no one would really know for sure who would win, we all knew Flair was retiring in 2008, as far as any of us know Shawn is planning on retiring not too far down the track, so the result of the match is not a foregone conclusion. If they go that way I’ll buy my first PPV since WrestleMania 23 just to see it. If they do the Rey/Punk mask v hair match that Scott suggested a while ago they could really have something this year!
Loved your idea about Shawn in the MITB then stealing Taker’s title, but I think Shawn’s too stubborn to turn heel. That would be great though!
God help us all, I don’t want to see Shawn end the damn streak. Seriously, why Shawn? Why not someone new to make a big star out of them? I don’t know why everyone is so ga-ga about seeing Shawn/Taker again. I still say it was an ok match on a shitty PPV, thus the reason it gets so much love. Wrestlemania XXV was such a horrible show people were just happy to pop for anything at that point. I don’t see how Shawn ending ‘Taker’s streak does anything other then massage the overinflated ego of Michaels. Seriously, why not have DiBiase break the streak? Or Punk? Or even Archer for God’s sakes? Someone new and fresh, not a worn down piece of garbage who should’ve stayed retired. This is my big problem with WWE is it feels like no one really gets any upper mobility, it’s just lateral all the time. You have your big six Cena, Batista, HHH, Shawn, Taker and Orton who won’t let anyone else get a rub. I said this about the Elimination Chamber coming up, why is Orton, Cena and HHH in there, why not but six young up and comers and give them one chance? I’d rather see Sheamus v. Kofi v. DiBiase v. Rhodes v. Swagger v. Miz. As for Smackdown’s remove Mysterio and put in Knox and have Taker lose right before the PPV to Ziggler in a massive upset. Hell, have Shawn cost him the title even. For Wrestlemania I’d love to see a double main event of Kofi v. Sheamus & Punk v. Edge. I think that would be awesome.
“WWE has tried to sell PPV’s on the mere potential for a great matchup before.”
Another example would be Vengeance 2001 where Austin and Rock acted as if it was a given that they’d be meeting in the finals of the 4-man tourney for the undisputed title. I remember my co-worker who was and is a Rock mark assumed it was set in stone as well. I kept telling him that if they were going to go with that final, they would have just made it an Austin/Rock match to guarantee maximum buys. He didn’t believe me.
Just to back you up on that, slightly different way of that was Survivor Series 98. There was a lot of people that thought Shawn Michaels would return at Survivor Series 98 to be the mystery opponent for Mankind, I’m not saying that was a selling point to the PPV, obviously the promise of new WWF Champion was. But again it’s another situation where if he was going to return it wouldn’t have been as a mystery opponent. It would have been public knowledge to spike buyrates.
:raiseshand:
I thought it was going to be HBK too.
I actually figured it would be the Brooklyn Brawler. If it had been Shawn Michaels they would have advertised it.
Are you saying that they wouldn’t keep the return of a major star (who was out of action for 8 months) a secret until a PPV?
Not if they thought it would make a difference in the buyrates. People will buy the Rumble because of the Rumble match, regardless of any “mystery” appearances.