Wrestlemania 4

Wrestlemania 4
Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City, NJ)
Original Airdate: March 27, 1988

As I mentioned in the Macho Man tribute, the next few entries will have bit of an arc.

Some background to said arc: At Wrestlemania 4 the Macho Man won the WWF championship by winning several matches in a single elimination tournament (if you haven't caught this now 23 year old event yet, I wholeheartedly apologize for the spoiler). Hulk Hogan directly contributed to this win. Directly following this, Macho Man and Hogan formed a tag team known as the "Mega Powers". This lasted for awhile until Macho Man eventually turned heel and (unsuccessfully) attempted to defend his belt against Hogan the next year at Wrestlemania 5.

"Why are we going to devote several entries to this?", you may ask. Well, mostly because it is something that simply isn't done in the WWE anymore. The increase to monthly pay per views has made such a slow building story more or less impossible to pull off without people losing interest. In addition, in my humble opinion, the product has adapted to the times and become much to the point. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying pro wrestling was ever some sort of complex, layered brew. But as I'd like to think I'll prove in the next few entries, there was a lost subtlety to it that I didn't catch as a kid.

So first let's set the scene, then attempt to put it in a greater context. The WWF championship had been vacated. In storyline, Andre The Giant had been paid by the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase to beat Hulk Hogan for the belt and then give it to him. (a quick aside: I don't think I've mentioned Dibiase yet, but he is another one of the unsung heroes of this WWF era. His character, an egotistical billionaire, was totally cutting edge at the time, and he played it to perfection) With the help of an evil twin referee (honestly, it's tough to even explain. Download the appropriate episode of "The Main Event" if you want to see how it all went down) Andre did just that. But in storyline, due to all the confusion, the belt was held up. In order to crown a new champion, it was announced that a single elimination tournament would be held at Wrestlemania. This was a stroke of genius that made Wrestlemania 4 possibly the most engaging 'Mania to date. Hogan vs Andre was clearly the biggest marquee main event, but to have most of the matches on the show between guys in pursuit of the world title added high stakes and an element of intrigue that had previously been absent.

It was within this engaging premise where the first seeds of the Macho Man/Hulk Hogan rivalry were planted. The tournament featured 10 wrestlers. A few of which were clearly filler and never had a shot (Dino Bravo, Butch Reed, etc). Now, obviously I was little young to remember the buzz leading up the event and this was long before there were 100000000 internet wrestling "rumor" sites, but I have to think most people believed the winner would be Hogan, Andre, Macho Man, or MAYBE Dibiase. Maybe there was a dark horse, but from what I've seen and what I can tell, those were the guys who were over enough to pull off the title win at the time. But surely most didn't expect what ended up happening, which was (spoiler alert for a 23 year old show) Hogan and Andre eliminating each other in their match.

Well needless to say, Macho Man goes on to defy the odds and win several grueling matches (the last against Dibiase) to become the new WWF champion. However, Hulk Hogan comes out before the end of the Dibiase match to prevent outside interference against the Macho Man. At the time, surely in storyline, it seemed Hogan was performing a selfless act to protect his good friend from getting screwed. In fact, this gesture on the part of Hogan starts a tag team partnership with Savage. Known as the "Mega Powers", they would go on to a few months of high profile angles (more on that later).

This is where the all important psychology element of wrestling comes in. In storyline, we're led to believe Macho Man starts to feel his title reign in Hulk's shadow. After all, he needed Hulk's help to win the belt in the first place. After a time, an element of jealousy involving Macho Man's manager (and real life wife) Miss Elizabeth, also enters into the equation. But at the end of Wrestlemania 4, there is absolutely no sign of any of this. Not even a subtle dirty look shot toward Hogan. That is what I feel is missing from a lot of today's mainstream wrestling. If the writers want a guy to turn heel, they'll have him start scowling or hit one of his former friends with a chair or cut a promo denouncing the fans or something. While I can't know what went on in the creative meetings back then, I firmly believe going into Wrestlemania 4, they already knew their Wrestlemania 5 main event was going to be Hulk Hogan vs The Macho Man. But they knew they had a year to build it, so they did nothing but plant the first very vague seeds of discontent between the storyline best friends. It was a completely engaging angle, and still one of my personal favorites of all time. And it was just getting started.

Finally, while I try to make all of my entries in this blog have a pretty definitive arc, there ARE a couple of small random observations/asides I would like to add to this one before I move on:

-This event took place about 5 minutes from where I grew up, and I often which I'd been old enough to attend this or Wrestlemania 5, which took place in the same building. It'd be a cool story to tell other wrestling nerds.

-the first match on the card featured Bret "The Hitman" Hart, who was previously a hated heel tag team wrestler turning on another heel named Bad News Brown. This was basically his first exposure as a singles wrestler, and it is significant because he would go on to carry the company on his back for a few years following the departure of Hogan. but more on that later.

Card:
Bad News Brown won a 20 man battle royal (other participants: Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Boris Zhukov, B. Brian Blair, "Dangerous" Danny Davis, George "The Animal" Steele, Harley Race, Hillbilly Jim, Jacques Rougeau, Jumpin Jim Brunzell, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Jim Powers, Junkyard Dog, Ken Patera, Nikolai Volkoff, Paul Roma, Raymond Rougeau, "The Outlaw" Ron Bass, Sam Houston, Sika)

First round tournament matches:
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase (w/Virgil and Andre The Giant) def. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
"The Rock" Don Muraco (w/"Superstar" Billy Graham) def. Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin)by disqualification
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) def. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
"Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) def. "The Natural" Butch Reed (w/Slick)
One Man Gang (w/Slick) def. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink) by countout
"Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) fought Jake "The Snake" Roberts to a time limit draw

The Ultimate Warrior def. Hercules (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan)

Quarter Final tournament matches:
Hulk Hogan fought Andre The Giant (w/Ted Dibiase and Virgil) to a double disqualification
Ted Dibiase def. Don Muraco
Randy Savage def. Greg Valentine

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def. Intercontinental champion The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue)by disqualification
The Islanders (Haku and Tama) and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan def. The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) and "The Birdman" Koko B Ware

Semi-Final Tournament match:
Randy Savage def. One Man Gang

Demolition (Ax and Smash)(w/Mr. Fuji) def. Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel) to win the WWF Tag Team Championships

Tournament Final:
Randy Savage def. Ted Dibiase to win the WWF Heavyweight Championship

Next up: (THE FIRST) Summerslam

WRESTLEMANIA 3

Wrestlemania 3

Pontiac Silverdome (Pontiac, Michigan)

Original Airdate: March 29, 1987

Well, First off...hi. Happy New Year to everyone. I promised from the get go that I wouldn't always be able to get to this blog/project as frequently as I'd like, and I'd say I've definitely delivered on that promise thus far. Between the holidays, a temporarily deceased PC, and a death in my family, my goofy blog/project has had to take a bit of a backseat. That having been said, this is far from dead, and with the new year, I plan on watching lots of wrestling (some good, some not so good) and imparting to you, my several loyal readers, my hackneyed thoughts on all the tiny details. So, as I rededicate myself to this task I took on for no real reason, let's forge onward.

As I stated previously, the coming years will bring a huge disparity in the quality of product being put forth by WWF. Luckily, we start 2011 on a high note. The third Wrestlemania was, and probably still remains, one of the high water marks in the entire history of the company. At the time, the reported attendance of 93,173 at the Silverdome was the biggest recorded indoor crowd in history. While that number has apparently been disputed a bit in the intervening years, one look at the show reveals that even if they padded the numbers by a few thousand, there was still an utter mass of humanity present for this event.

And most importantly, the main storyline headed into the third mania was full of genuine intrigue. Hulkamania was now in full swing, but the Hulkster was set to face his gravest challenge in the 7 foot 500 lb (pretty clearly exaggerated measurements, but regardless, he was a LARGE man) Andre The Giant. In storyline, Hogan and Andre were formerly close friends, but Andre had allowed evil manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan to get into his head and turn him angry and bitter. Andre had perfected a persona where he came off as good hearted, but easily swayed by bad influence. This was further reinforced by the part he played in the movie "The Princess Bride", which was released that fall.

Anyway, even casual fans of pro wrestling know what happened. Hogan slayed the giant, and even managed to bodyslam him (Andre clearly worked incredibly hard to help Hogan pull this off, but still). It's tough to argue that this was Andre's biggest shining moment in the ring, and some would say it may have been Hogan's as well. It was the perfect storm of a great buildup, the right venue, and a good match. Now don't get me wrong, in terms of the actual wrestling, this wasn't an all time classic. What makes it a solid, memorable match though, is the workrate. Both guys clearly wanted it to be great, and you can sense them both working hard to make the other look good and put on a great show.

In stark contrast, we have one of the preliminary matches between Macho Man Randy Savage and Ricky The Dragon Steamboat. And I'd like to use that as the jumping off point for the bulk of my discussion regarding this event. I've written a bit about both the Dragon and the Macho Man in previous entries, so I won't rehash. Their encounter at Wrestlemania was for the Intercontinental Championship. I haven't discussed the IC Championship at any length so far, so I'll give some brief background on it now: The IC championship is considered secondary only to the World Title. In non-storyline terms, if a wrestler was given the IC Belt, it was said to be a clear sign the guy was considered to be on the way up. And that has definitely held true over the years. A quick look at former title holders reveal a large percentage of guys going on to hold "the big belt". And the Macho Man was certainly on the way up. In fact, he was on his way to being arguably the 3rd most recognizable face of this whole era; behind Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior.

The significance of the Macho Man/Steamboat match is this: A large portion of hardcore wrestling fans consider it to be one of the best matches of all time. So my question here is this: In the context of the predetermined pro wrestling world, what makes a "great match"? Well, I would think that's at least partly a matter of individual taste. To the trained eye, the first very noticeable thing is that it is extremely planned. During the 15 or so minute duration, the two guys do a lot of things that are extremely acrobatic and elaborate. The match is elaborate to the point where it is easy to ascertain that the two of them sat down ahead of time and worked out the ins and outs pretty meticulously. So if spontaneity is your thing, this might not be your FAVORITE match ever. But it's hard to see any fan of pro wrestling being disappointed at two innovative, athletic guys in their prime clearly giving it their all.

Another somewhat intangible element of a great match is what wrestling nerds call "psychology". Essentially, this is meant to refer to the logic of what each wrestler does in a match. Since each guy is playing a character, everything they should do within a match should fit their character. The catch is that a character's psychology can evolve within any given match. In fact, in a really well done wrestling match, it should. For example: in this one, the referee "accidentally" gets run into (a very popular storytelling device in wrestling). While the ref is out cold, Macho Man hits Steamboat with his finishing move (a flying elbow from the top rope). Macho Man has Steamboat pinned for at least 10 seconds, but GASP...there is no referee available to make the count. To finish the match, Savage is attempting a seemingly mundane move, which Steamboat reverses out of nowhere to get the pin and win the championship. It makes great sense within the context of the match that Savage was thrown off guard by landing his finishing move and not winning, and therefore was distracted enough to allow Steamboat to take advantage.

Anyway, the point is that it's tough to say what makes a "great" match, but the Steamboat/Savage tilt is without a doubt at least a "very good" one. You can judge whether not it is one of the best on your own:

The reaction to Wrestlemania 3 was crystal clear. It was clearly the company's most ambitious undertaking to date, and it came off without a hitch. People wanted more WWF on pay per view, and that is what Vince Mcmahon started providing. He began adding shows pretty rapidly for a couple years. It's going to be interesting attempting to make some sort of dent in them, but I'm up for the task, so I hope you, my several loyal readers, are up for accompanying me. See you soon.

Card:
The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk) def. "Cowboy" Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji)
Billy Jack Haynes fought Hercules (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) to a double countout
Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver def. King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo by disqualification
King Harley Race (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and The Fabulous Moolah) def. The Junkyard Dog in a "Loser Must Bow" match
The Dream Team (Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake)(w/Johnny Valiant and Dino Bravo)def. The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond)
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper def. "Adorable" Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) in a "Hair vs Hair" match
The Hart Foundation (Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) and "Dangerous" Danny Davis (w/Jimmy Hart) def. The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) and Tito Santana
"The Natural" Butch Reed (w/Slick) def. "The Birdman" Koko B. Ware
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (w/George "The Animal" Steele) def. "Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) to win the Intercontinental Championship
The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) def. Jake "The Snake" Roberts (w/Alice Cooper)
The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff (w/Slick) def. The Killer Bees ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair) by disqualification
Hulk Hogan def. Andre The Giant (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) to retain the World Championship

Next up: (THE FIRST) Survivor Series

WRESTLEMANIA 2

Wrestlemania 2

Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, New York)

The Rosemont Horizon (Rosemont, Illinois)

LA Sports Arena (Los Angeles, California)

Original Airdate: April 7, 1986

Year number 2 of the WWF pay per view has begun. (Although, if you want to get technical, Wrestlemania 1 was only on PPV in select markets, so really the Wrestling Classic was the first nationwide PPV). For the second edition of the grandaddy of them all, it is clear Vince Mcmahon was looking for ways to outdo himself. In typical 1980's "more more more" fashion, it was decided that Wrestlemania 2 would be simulcast from 3 different locations spanning the whole country. And I'm not sure if I'm in the minority or not, but I consider this experiment to be a resounding failure. I suppose the powers that be did as well, because to my knowledge, this was the first and only time it was attempted.

I'll be blunt. I think this is one of the absolute weakest Wrestlemanias. I did when I first watched it as a young kid, and revisiting it this week did nothing to change my opinion. The first problem has to do with the format. The jumping of locations affords the show no flow whatsoever. And because it was so spread out, they also had to use 3 different announce teams. It would be charitable to say they scrape the bottom of the barrel with these. People like future Minnesota governor and paranoid nutjob Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Mcmahon himself are more than passable, but whose bright idea was it to give late night schlock horror tv host Elvira a microphone? A recurring trend (at least to me) in pro wrestling is the better the announcing, the more enjoyable the match, and I think this is really the first pay per view I watched where that rings true. I just wanted Elvira, Cathy Lee Crosby (WHO?) and a couple others to shut up (so much so that it took me out of the in ring action).

And there's not even a ton to be enthralled with in the ring, either. This show continues early WWF tradition of having way too many matches, to the point where no one is able to tell a good story in the ring. The opening match from Long Island between Paul Orndorff and Magnificent Muraco lasts less than 5 minutes and ends with a bizarre double countout. Nowadays, it is standard practice for a PPV to start with a high energy match that might go 15 minutes or something to really get the crowd involved. The Orndorff/Murcao match induced nothing in me besides a shrug and a slight yawn. The same goes for several of the other 11 bouts including a flag match between Corporal Kirchner (a second rate Sgt. Slaughter) and Nikolai Volkoff and a blinkandyoullmissit woman's match featuring the Fabulous Moolah. One of the few bright spots is a battle royal (a match where a whole bunch of guys are in the ring and the only way to lose is to get thrown over the top rope. last man standing wins) featuring some NFL players as well as future megastar Bret "The Hitman" Hart (making his first PPV appearance). I also liked the tag team title match where The British Bulldogs came away with the belts (despite his talent, this would prove to be the Dynamite Kid's only real taste of mainstream success) and the main event between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy in a steel cage. It is an interesting, early prototype of the format that made WWF huge in the coming years, which was the Hulkster overcoming a seemingly impossible challenge, and triumphing in the name of all that is good and right. (this may sound like hyperbole, but Hulk Hogan really was that big at one time)

I also didn't like the fact that no ring entrances were included, as well as very few interviews or backstage segments. I think it served to make an already choppy show due to the different locations even choppier. I'm not sure if this is how the show was presented originally, but if so, it was definitely a misstep, and once again, to my knowledge, it was not one that was ever repeated.

So here we have, what was, for the most part, a step backwards, for Wrestlemania. But fear not, loyal readers (all 3 of you), we are about to enter an absolute prime period for WWF, where they began firing on all cylinders. And to me, this period began with Hulk Hogan and a 500 lb giant from the French Alps meeting face to face in front of 80,000 people. But hold on...we aren't quite there yet. Soon though. I advise you to put on your bright red Hulk Hogan bandanna in preparation.

Card:

(Nassau Coliseum)

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff fought The Magnificent Muraco to a double countout

"Macho Man" Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) def. George "The Animal" Steele to retain the Intercontinental Championsip

Jake "The Snake" Roberts def. George Wells

Mr. T (w/Joe Frazier and The Haiti Kid) def. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (w/ "Cowboy" Bob Orton and Lou Duva) by disqualification in a boxing match

(Rosemont Horizon)

The Fabulous Moolah def. Velvet McIntyre to retain the Womans Championship

Corporal Kirchner def. Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match

Andre The Giant won a 20 man battle royal, last eliminating Bret "The Hitman" Hart (other participants: Jimbo Covert, Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Harvey Martin, Dan Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, Ernie Holmes, B. Brian Blair, "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Russ Francis, Bruno Sammartino and Willaim "The Refrigerator" Perry)

The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) (w/Ozzy Osbourne and Capt. Lou Albano) def. The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine) (w/ Johnny Valiant) to win the Tag Team Championships

(LA Sports Arena)

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def. Hercules Hernandez

Adrian Adonis (w/ Jimmy Hart) def. Uncle Elmer

Terry and Hoss Funk (w/ Jimmy Hart) def. The Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana

Hulk Hogan def. King Kong Bundy (w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) in a steel cage match to retain the World Championship

Next Up: The Big Event