This year the WWE will be putting on the 34th annual Wrestlemania. So, in honor of the big event we at Ring Time Pro Wrestling have been watching some old school Wrestlemania’s with four being the theme. So, each week leading up to the big event we will be watching Wrestlemanias 4,14 and 24.
We are starting this out with 4th anniversary of the big show held at what as called the Trump Plaza back in 1988. The actual event was held at Boardwalk Hall (Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall). The venue also served as the host the Wrestlemania V too. Who knew at the time the host of event would be President of the United States 30 years later. Donald Trump was in attendance and received many photo ops utilizing his star power.
The big storyline for this show was the WWF Title had been vacated by President Jack Tunney due to controversial finish in the match between Andre “The Giant” and Hulk Hogan. This resulted in a 14-man one day tournament to crown an Undisputed WWF Champion.
With that being enough to fill up an entire show, there were matches for the Tag Team Titles and Intercontinental Championship that night also. There was a 20 man Battle Royal to go along with Ultimate Warrior having a match against Hercules. The show was billed as a 4-hour spectacular which actually runs about 3 hours and 33 minutes but definitely the most well put together Wrestlemania to that point.
The show opens up with the 20-Man Battle Royal which featured King Harley Race, new Hall of Famer Hillbilly Jim, Ken Patera and George “The Animal” Steele. The final 3 participants in the match were Junkyard Dog, Bret Hart and Bad New Brown, an old Stampede Wrestling reunion of sorts. Hart and Brown teamed up to take out the Dog, then Bad News hit Bret with Ghetto Blaster (most racist name for a move ever) while they were celebrating. Brown won the Battle Royal but was attacked Hart after because he felt betrayed by sneak attack. This led to the Hart Foundation transitioning to a babyface team later that year.
The first round of the title tournament featured matches that would become bigger conflicts later. Rick Rude vs Jake “The Snake” Roberts go on to have one of the best feuds of 1988. Steamboat and Valentine seems like it could have taken place in a later round. The highlights were Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase being escorted to the ring by Andre “The Giant” who is also in the tournament defeating Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Randy Savage defeated Butch Reed to move on.
During the show The Honky Tonk Man successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. The Ultimate Warrior in his PPV debut defeats Hercules by DQ. One of the busiest men of the night Bobby “The Brain” Heenan was in Hercules corner for that match. He was also with his team The Islanders as they faced Koko B. Ware and The British Bulldogs. Heenan could have been MVP of the night as he was still managing wrestlers in the tournament too.
Demolition defeated Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) for their first reign as tag team champions. With the help of the legendary Mr Fuji Ax and Smash took home the tag titles and held them for one of two long reigns.
The Quarterfinals of the tournament featured the third and final match between Hogan and Andre. This time we still did not get a final winner because both competitors were disqualified. That cleared Ted Dibiase a route to the Finals after he beat Don Muraco. Randy Savage defeated Greg Valentine and was set to face The One-Man Gang in the Semi-Finals after the Gang got a bye virtue of the double DQ of Jake Roberts and Rick Rude. Randy Savage is the only guy in the tournament who had to wrestler every match.
After overcoming The One-Man Gang and Slick it left the Randy Savage to take on The Million Dollar Man. Ted Dibiase had a stacked corner as Virgil and The Giant were in his corner. Miss Elizabeth realized that Savage would need some help and enlisted Hulk Hogan. Hogan had aided Savage earlier in the year during a 3 on 1 attack by Honky Tonk Man and The Hart Foundation. The match was 9 minutes and there was craziness on both sides. Resulting in Savage being able to drop the elbow on The Million Dollar man and win the WWF title for the first time.
The Macho Man would hold onto the title for a year. It was the first time that a Wrestlemania ended and Hulk Hogan did not have the belt. The Mega Powers would ignite and officially become a thing after Wrestlemania IV. They would later implode over the course of a year and by Wrestlemania V the belt they celebrated at the end of this show would come between them.
Written By
Keith B. Holt
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