WrestleMania IV

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WrestleMania IV
Details
Promotion World Wrestling Federation
Date March 27, 1988
Venue Trump Plaza
City Atlantic City, New Jersey
Attendance 18,165
Pay-per-view chronology
Survivor Series (1987)[1] WrestleMania IV SummerSlam (1988)[1]
WrestleMania chronology
WrestleMania III WrestleMania IV WrestleMania V

WrestleMania IV was the fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on March 27, 1988 at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The tagline for the event was What the World is Watching.

The main event was the finals of a 14-man tournament for the WWF Championship where Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase to win the vacant title.[2] The main matches on the undercard were a 20-man battle royal won by Bad News Brown,[3] Demolition (Ax and Smash) versus Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel) for the WWF Tag Team Championship,[4] Brutus Beefcake versus The Honky Tonk Man for the WWF Intercontinental Championship[5] and a 14-man tournament for the vacated WWF Championship.[1]

Contents

[edit] Report

[edit] Background

André the Giant, during his WWF Championship win over Hulk Hogan
André the Giant, during his WWF Championship win over Hulk Hogan

The main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant. In January 1987, Hogan was awarded a trophy for his third year as WWF Champion while Hogan's best friend André was awarded a smaller trophy than Hogan's, for being undefeated in WWF for 15 years.[6] Hogan congratulated his friend and said that André was the real champion of superstars all around the world.[6] André surprisingly left the place before Hogan could even finish. In February, he came with a new manager Bobby Heenan.[6] When Hogan came to know about that, he begged to André that not to keep Heenan as his manager because Heenan was Hogan's longtime enemy.[6] André said that he had come to challenge Hogan for the WWF title at WrestleMania.[6] He ripped off Hogan's Hulkamania shirt and attacked him with a golden chain, turning heel.[6] This culminated in their historic match at WrestleMania III in March, where Hogan defeated André to retain the title. During the match, he set a record by scoop slamming the 540-pound Frenchman.[7] At the first Survivor Series in November, André, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed and Rick Rude defeated Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera and Bam Bam Bigelow in a Survivor Series match.[8] At the first Royal Rumble in January 1988, Hogan and André had their official contract signing for a WWF Championship rematch.[9] Their rematch took place on the first-ever edition of The Main Event in February, where André controversially won the title from Hogan.[10][11] André became the shortest reigning WWF Champion with a reign of only 47 seconds as he sold the title to Ted DiBiase and received a large sum of money.[11][12] However, WWF President Jack Tunney vacated the title and ordered it to be decided in a 14-man tournament at WrestleMania IV.[10][11]

[edit] Event

Bad News Brown, who won the 20-man battle royal
Bad News Brown, who won the 20-man battle royal

The event began with Gladys Knight singing a rendition of "America the Beautiful". The first match was a 20-man battle royal and the winner would receive a large trophy. The participants were Bad News Brown, The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell), Danny Davis, George Steele, Harley Race, Hillbilly Jim, The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond), The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers), Junkyard Dog, Ken Patera, Ron Bass, Sam Houston, and Sika. After fourteen eliminations, the final six participants were Brown, Bret Hart, Roma, Race, Jacques Rougeau and JYD. Race hit a back body drop on Rougeau sending him over the top rope before JYD punched him over the top rope. Brown dumped out Roma as JYD was left to battle Hart and Brown. The duo double-teamed him and Hart caught JYD as Brown clotheslined JYD but JYD sidestepped and Hart was hit with the clothesline. JYD hit both men with several headbutts before they both decided to cooperate and they eliminated JYD. Hart decided that he and Brown would share the trophy but Brown betrayed him and hit him a Ghetto Buster and pounded on him before eliminating him over the top rope to win the battle royal. Brown was presented with the trophy, but Hart attacked him from behind and broke the trophy, thus turning babyface.[3][4][5][1]

Jim Hellwig, the Ultimate Warrior who faced Hercules at WrestleMania
Jim Hellwig, the Ultimate Warrior who faced Hercules at WrestleMania

The 14-man tournament for the WWF Championship began. In the first round, Ted DiBiase defeated Jim Duggan, Don Muraco defeated Dino Bravo, Randy Savage defeated Butch Reed, Greg Valentine defeated Ricky Steamboat, One Man Gang defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Rick Rude fought Jake Roberts to a double countout. The winners advanced to the quarterfinals while Rude and Roberts were both eliminated from the tournament. In his pay-per-view (PPV) debut, The Ultimate Warrior faced Bobby Heenan's client Hercules. Warrior snapped Hercules' chain and chopped him in the corner. Hercules tried to fight back and he hit three clotheslines on Warrior, who no-sold Hercules' clothesline. Hercules fell to the mat each time during his unsuccessful clothesline attempts. The powerhouse Warrior countered a Hercules clothesline and hit a clothesline of his own. He pounded on Hercules outside the ring before reentering the ring where Warrior hit a forearm club. In the corner, Warrior hit him ten-count punches but Hercules made a comeback with an inverted atomic drop. He hit a half nelson suplex on Warrior who got his shoulder up first, as the referee counted, giving Warrior the win.[3][4][5][1]

Greg Valentine, who faced Randy Savage in the quarterfinals of the WWF Championship tournament
Greg Valentine, who faced Randy Savage in the quarterfinals of the WWF Championship tournament

The quarterfinals started as Hulk Hogan took on André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit André in front of referee Joey Marella while André hit Hogan with the chair. After both men hit each other with the chair, they both were disqualified by Marella and as a result, they both were eliminated from the tournament. In the following matches, Ted DiBiase defeated Don Muraco and Randy Savage defeated Greg Valentine while One Man Gang received a bye in the quarter-finals, due to double countout result of Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts in the first round. Brutus Beefcake took on Jimmy Hart's client WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man for the title. The challenger connected with an atomic drop in the starting of the matchup. Beefcake hit Honky with a high knee. He missed an elbow drop on Honky, who took control with a second turnbuckle fist drop. He went for a Shake, Rattle & Roll on Beefcake but kneed him in the face. He went to the top rope to do some high-flying but Beefcake hooked the top rope and clotheslined Honky before applying a Barber's Chair on Honky. Honky's manager Jimmy Hart hit the referee with the megaphone. The bell didn't ring but it was announced that Beefcake won by disqualification, which meant that Honky was still the champion because a title does not change hands by a DQ.[3][4][5][1]

The Islanders (Haku and Tama) and their manager Bobby Heenan took on British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) and Koko B. Ware. Dynamite hit some quick stuff on Tama. Tama tried a handshake with Dynamite but he catapulted Tama over the top rope. Davey tagged in but missed an elbow drop on Tama, allowing Tama to tag Haku. Davey hit a flying crossbody on Haku for a near-fall. Davey went for another near-fall but Haku kicked out again. Haku hit an arm wrench and tagged Tama. Tama grabbed Davey's arm who came out of it with a military press slam. Tama tagged in Haku. Haku put Davey in the backbreaker but Davey flipped out of it and tagged in Koko. He hit Haku with a missile dropkick and a frankensteiner on Islanders. Dynamite tagged in and clotheslined Haku before ran into a boot by Haku. Heenan tagged and hit boots on Dynamite before tagging in Tama. Tama hit a back body drop on Dynamite but missed a big splash. Tama tagged Haku and Dynamite tagged Koko. Koko ducked an Irish whip. Heenan tagged in but was dropkicked by Koko in the corner. Islanders attacked him. This prompted Bulldogs to enter the ring. All the six men brawled in the ring as the referee sent Bulldogs to the corner while Islanders picked up Heenan and threw him on top of Koko, leading to a pinfall win for Islanders and Bobby Heenan.[3][4][5][1]

The semi-final match of the WWF Championship tournament began featuring Randy Savage against One Man Gang while Ted DiBiase received a bye in the semi-finals due to the double disqualification ending of Hulk Hogan versus André the Giant.

[edit] Results

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

This image is a candidate for speedy deletion. It may be deleted after Tuesday, 8 April 2008.

This image is a candidate for speedy deletion. It may be deleted after Tuesday, 8 April 2008.
Randy Savage winning the WWF Championship
Randy Savage winning the WWF Championship

[edit] Tournament bracket

  First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
                                     
        
   Hulk Hogan   5:23    
     André the Giant DDQ  
    
      
   BYE  
   Ted DiBiase  
 Jim Duggan   5:02    
 Ted DiBiase Pin  
   Ted DiBiase 5:35
     Don Muraco Pin  
 Don Muraco 4:54
 Dino Bravo DQ  
   Ted DiBiase   9:27  
   Randy Savage      Pin
 Ricky Steamboat 9:11  
 Greg Valentine Pin  
   Greg Valentine 6:07
     Randy Savage Pin  
 Randy Savage 4:09
 Butch Reed Pin  
   Randy Savage   4:35  
   One Man Gang       DQ  
 Bam Bam Bigelow   2:55  
 One Man Gang CO  
   One Man Gang    
     BYE  
 Jake Roberts 15:00
 Rick Rude Draw  

Pin-Pinfall; CO-Countout; DQ-Disqualification; DDQ-Double disqualification

[edit] Other on-screen talent

Commentators
Interviewers
Ring announcer
Referees
Other

[edit] Notes

  • Gladys Knight sang a rendition of "America the Beautiful" before the show.
  • This WrestleMania featured 16 matches, more than any other WrestleMania as of 2008.[13]
  • WrestleMania IV and V are the only two WrestleManias to be held at the same venue for two consecutive years.
  • Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant went to a draw by double disqualification in this event. This would be Hogan's first WrestleMania match in which a disqualification occured. This was Hogan's first and only time going to a draw at WrestleMania.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g WrestleMania IV review. PWWEW - Wrestling Everything. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  2. ^ Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase WWE Championship Tournament Finals. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  3. ^ a b c d e WrestleMania IV official results. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  4. ^ a b c d e WrestleMania IV. The Powerdriver Review (2008-02-12). Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  5. ^ a b c d e WrestleMania IV results. Wrestling Supercards and Tournaments. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  6. ^ a b c d e f McAvennie, Mike (2007-03-30). The Big One. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
  7. ^ André the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan - WWE Championship. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
  8. ^ André the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, "The Natural" Butch Reed & "Ravishing" Rick Rude def. Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco & Ken Patera. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  9. ^ Royal Rumble 1988. The Powerdriver Review (1988-02-12). Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  10. ^ a b The Main Event results - February 5, 1988. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  11. ^ a b c André the Giant's first WWE Championship reign. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  12. ^ WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Complete WWE. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  13. ^ WrestleMania IV Facts/Stats. WWE. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.

[edit] External links

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