Well, as we saw from the Clash of the Champions I review, it’s going to be nearly impossible for WrestleMania IV to be the best wrestling show on this particular night.
After Vince McMahon and company ran wild on Jim Crockett with the vastly superior Royal Rumble during the January showdown between the two promotions, it happened once again here, with the Clash being the one shown on free TV this time around.
Let’s jump right into Blake’s WrestleMania IV review.
- Date: March 27, 1988
- Location: Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic, NJ
ANNOUNCE BOOTH: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura hype the tournament for the WWF title. Bob Uecker then makes his spectacular return after appearing at WrestleMania III.
The Hart Foundation, Young Stallions, Sika, Danny Davis, Killer Bees, Bad News Brown, Sam Houston, Rougeau Brothers, Ken Patera, Ron Bass, Junkyard Dog, Bolsheviks, Hillbilly Jim, Harley Race, George ‘The Animal’ Steele – 20 Man Battle Royal
The best memory I have from this show is just how long it was, as the VHS rental was two tapes. Little did we know how much longer these shows would get. Sika and Houston get thrown out early and George Steele is on the outside hanging around. He eventually eliminates Neidhart. Given the love to Jim Powers in recent PPVs, I’m still shocked that he didn’t win this match and eliminate all 19 men himself. He’s also juiced and tan, which is the Vince specialty. Davis gets eliminated and THEN JIM POWERS GETS TOSSED. Massive moment in the match.
Final four is JYD, Hart, Brown, and Roma. Brown tosses Roma, and the JYD does his thing on Hart and Brown. The bad guys team up on JYD and eventually send him packing. Strange finish with two bad guys remaining. Of course, then Brown turns on Bret. Gorilla’s “Pearl Harbor job” line makes an appearance, which is one of his greatest and most cruel lines ever.
Shortly after, Brown throws Bret over the top to win the gigantic trophy at 10:40. And then a good guy is made. Bret comes back in and throws Brown out before destroying the trophy. The people could never truly hate Bret. Nothing too thrilling in this battle royal.
• Rating: **1/2
IN THE RING: The Fink welcomes Robin Leach in the ring to read a proclamation for the title tournament. We also get a reminder that we’re at Trump Plaza and Casino. Bet that guy will run for president one day.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil and Andre the Giant) – WWF Title Tournament First Round
Let the tournament begin. Duggan controls early and the crowd simply can’t hate this guy. But let’s be honest here: there’s a better chance of Trump becoming president one day than Duggan winning this match. That joke would have been hilarious in 1988, but now, not so much.
After some shenanigans involving Andre knocking Duggan senseless, DiBiase gets the pin at 4:54. Just think, these two beat the hell out of each other during their Mid-South days. Now this.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Brutus Beefcake with Gene Okerlund. Beefcake still can’t wrestle. Gene didn’t say that. I did.
Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) vs. Don Muraco (w/Superstar Billy Graham) – WWF Title Tournament First Round
Wish they would have put a camera on Vince’s face during this entire match. Two dudes that are absolutely jacked to the gills. I’m surprised this wasn’t the tournament final.
They do simple power moves and we get a ref bump.
Bravo goes for a pin and referee Jimmy Korderas taps him on the back. He DQ’s Bravo for pulling him in front of him before the bump. Muraco is your winner at 4:54. Terrible as expected.
• Rating: DUD
BACKSTAGE: Uecker with Honky Tonk Man. They babble.
Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat – WWF Title Tournament First Round
Steamboat carries his young son down the entrance ramp. HOW CAN YOU NOT ROOT FOR THIS GUY? On paper, there’s little doubt as to who is advancing in this match.
Great back and forth between these two, which you’d expect given how good of workers they are. We also get the zoom in on Trump, who is visible in the front row. My guess is that he was already planning for his presidential bid here and wanted Steamboat as his VP.
Seriously good match here. It’s even both ways, and in the end, a flying crossbody from Steamboat adds just a little bit too much momentum. That gives us the old flip over for Valentine to get the victory at 9:12. Steamboat complains about Valentine holding the tights but to no avail.
Of course, this would be Steamboat’s last match in the WWF before leaving the company, so him losing certainly makes sense. It still robbed everyone of another classic with Savage.
• Rating: ***
Butch Reed (w/Slick) vs. Macho Man Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) – WWF Title Tournament First Round
The winner gets Valentine, and I think we would all agree that a Reed/Valentine quarterfinal would not be best for business. However, Reed controls early on.
Reed gets a little too cocky and Savage slams him from the top rope. Then he hits the Flying Elbow Drop for the win at 5:07. Nothing to see here.
• Rating: 1/2*
BACKSTAGE: Bobby Heenan and the Islanders with Uecker. Hype, hype, hype.
One Man Gang (w/Slick) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdink) – WWF Title Tournament First Round
Bam Bam should be the obvious winner, right? Slick with the interference early to send Bam Bam over the top. He gets back in and the referee calls for the bell at 2:56.
He says Bam Bam never made it back in before the 10-count, although he clearly did, and awards Gang the victory. Who booked this tournament? Matilda the dog?
• Rating: DUD
BACKSTAGE: Hulk Hogan with Gene. Hulkster talks about the controversial count at WrestleMania III and says he’s been scarred for a year. He mentions Trump about 10 times here and says he’s a Hulkamaniac. This promo is incredible and ends with Hulk swimming out of the picture. Your guess is as good as mine.
Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts – WWF Title Tournament First Round Match
You would think this would be the most exciting match of the first round. As we’ll see, it was not. The story is Rude constantly trying to escape the DDT from Jake. We work our way to Rude locking on the chinlock for seemingly an hour. They fight out of it, and then we’re back to the chinlock. Rude still in complete control of the match. Out of the chinlock, and BACK TO THE CHINLOCK. The crowd is bored to tears until Jake hits the side suplex. BUT RUDE STILL HOLDS THE CHINLOCK.
Finally out of the chinlock……who am I kidding? We’re back to the chinlock as the crowd chants “boring.” Seriously, who booked this? Uecker? Jake breaks out of it and the crowd tries its best to get into this match. He stays in control but Rude gets the advantage once again after a back suplex.
Now a double clothesline spot and both are down. Rude then goes for a pin with the feet on the ropes, the bell rings, and it’s ruled a time-limit draw at 15:00. Both are out of the tournament. Surprisingly boring match with zero heat at all. And both being eliminated was even dumber.
• Rating: *1/2
BACKSTAGE: Vanna White with Gene. Here’s your updated tournament bracket:
• Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
• Ted DiBiase vs. Don Muraco
• Greg Valentine vs. Randy Savage
• One Man Gang with the bye
Hercules (w/Bobby Heenan) vs. The Ultimate Warrior
This match is juiced. And this show already feels long, but we’ve got hours to go. HOURS. Nothing much goes on in this match other than Herc controlling it, and then both men put their shoulders on the mat during the pin, with the referee awarding Warrior the win at 4:29.
Herc wraps the chain around Warrior after the match, but he breaks loose and takes the chain.
• Rating: *
VIDEO: We recap the events leading to the upcoming Hogan/Andre match.
Andre the Giant (w/Ted DiBiase and Virgil) vs. Hulk Hogan – WWF Title Tournament Quarterfinals
Here we go. Surely this will live up to the hype. Surely.
Andre destroys Hogan right from the beginning. Then DiBiase gets involved and we get the double noggin knocker to him and Andre. Gorilla Monsoon was the absolute greatest.
Hogan now has Andre tied up in the ropes. He gets out and now we’ve got nothing but punches everywhere, with one finally sending Andre to the mat. But now the big man has control and tries to crush Hogan like a soda can. Trump is in the audience loving this.
Hogan breaks out of the Andre death grip. DiBiase gets in the ring and now Hogan has a chair. He hammers Andre with it. However, then Andre steals the chair and nails Hogan with it. NOW THE REF CALLS FOR THE BELL. Double DQ at 5:22.
So for clarity: Hogan hits Andre with the chair first. He doesn’t get DQ’d. Then Andre hits Hogan with the chair. But somehow now it’s a double DQ. The most mind-boggling tournament ever.
• Rating: *1/2
Don Muraco (w/Superstar Billy Graham) vs. Ted DiBiase – WWF Title Tournament Quarterfinals
And now the winner of this match gets a bye into the final. Muraco starts off hot, but he has a 0.2% chance of winning this one. It looks like Muraco lifted weights between now and his previous match.
Anyways, Muraco controls most of it until DiBiase finds some steam late. He throws Muraco off the top rope and gets the pin at 5:44 to advance to the final. Good effort by both in yet another short match.
• Rating: **
BACKSTAGE: Demolition and Mr. Fuji with Uecker. Shenanigans ensue.
Greg Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) – WWF Title Tournament Quarterfinals
Cool touch here with Savage and Elizabeth both wearing new outfits. Solid back and forth as you would expect. Who would have thought that Greg Valentine would have been the MVP of the show to this point? Worked a quality match with Steamboat, and now with Savage.
Valentine gets some momentum, but Savage rolls him up with the small package to advance at 6:06. Decent match.
• Rating: **
Brutus Beefcake vs. (c) Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) – Intercontinental Title
A match between two wrestlers that I was never really thrilled with. Especially Beefcake. I always wondered why I didn’t think he was any good, but the character just didn’t work for me.
Meanwhile, this match isn’t any good. The crowd is exhausted by now, and we’ve still got an hour to go. Another junk finish with Beefcake winning by DQ at 6:30 after Jimmy Hart hits the referee with the megaphone.
• Rating: 1/2*
BACKSTAGE: Andre with Uecker. He still hates Hogan and says Hulkamania is over.
The Islanders and Bobby Heenan vs. The British Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware
Remember when managers had more than one client? Those were the days. Heenan is wrestling here, which is always a treat. But like many other matches on this card, there’s no heat. This feels like a really long house show, especially considering how poorly booked the tournament has been.
Even when all six men get in the ring for a brouhaha, the crowd does nothing. Then the Islanders splash Heenan on top of Koko and the Brain gets the surprise win at 7:30. Most exhausting card ever. Well, except for Bunkhouse Stampede ’88.
• Rating: *
ON THE STAGE: Jesse Ventura poses for the crowd for a few minutes, as if we needed to extend this show even further. I no longer have any doubt that Uecker and Matilda booked this show.
One Man Gang (w/Slick) vs. Randy Savage – WWF Title Tournament Semifinals
Another new outfit from Savage and Liz. One of the few highlights of the show. Crowd is somewhat into this one, but once again we get a wacky finish with Savage winning by DQ at 4:05.
So our championship match is set: DiBiase vs. Savage. It’s a cool final, but this tournament has been largely underwhelming.
• Rating: 1/2*
Demolition (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. (c) Strike Force – WWF Tag Team Titles
At least an intriguing matchup here. Demolition controls Santana for most of the match, but then Martel gets the hot tag. But it wasn’t hot. The crowd did nothing. Can you blame them at this stage of the show?
Ref is occupied and Fuji tosses in the cane. Ax hammers Martel with it and Smash gets the pin to win the titles at 12:33. First title reign for the men in face paint.
• Rating: *3/4
Ted DiBiase (w/Andre the Giant) vs. Randy Savage – WWF Heavyweight Title
Robin Leach brings the belt out beforehand and lets Trump touch it. Incredible. But this horrendous tournament has finally come to an end, and in all honesty, it’s the best match we could have asked for.
DiBiase in control and Andre is on the outside blocking Trump’s view. DiBiase sent to the outside and Andre now stands in front of DiBiase to protect him from Macho’s jump. He then tells Elizabeth to do something, and she runs to the back. Wonder who is gonna come back with her.
And now we have DiBiase back in control as Elizabeth comes back out with HULK HOGAN. WHO SAW THIS COMING? Only every person in attendance who chanted for Hogan from the very start of the match. Hogan grabs a chair and takes a seat. Andre gets involved and Hogan goes over to knock the daylights out of him. DiBiase goes up top and Macho presses him to the mat. Macho goes up top and misses the elbow. The ref gets occupied by Andre, so Hogan figures he’ll come in and whack DiBiase with a chair. IT’S NOT CHEATING WHEN THE HULKSTER DOES IT, BROTHER.
Macho goes up top and hits the elbow to win the WWF title at 9:33. This was entertaining, but if you’re looking for logic, you won’t find it.
• Rating: **1/2
Blake’s WrestleMania IV Awards
- Best Match: Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat
- WrestleMania IV MVP: Randy Savage
- Overall WrestleMania IV Rating: 4.0/10
- Thoughts: “It’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it.” That’s the saying, right? Well when it comes to wrestling pay per views, that also applies. 16 matches in a four-hour show. Problem was, few of the matches were any good. The overall tournament booking was poor and made no sense. However, they obviously got it right with Savage winning. It would set up one of the hottest storylines ever over the next year, so at least this served its purpose.
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