WrestleMania IV

Wrestlemania IV (1988) marked the start of the end of Hulkamania's run as one of the biggest draws in pro wrestling. At this point wrestling was so huge that Donald Trump himself wanted a piece of the action. He had the next two Wrestlemanias (IV and V) held in the Trump Plaza. The Donald even had ringside seats for this four hour event. The storyline went like this Hulk Hogan lost to Andre the Giant in a very controversial match on N.B.C. 's Saturday Night's Main Event wrestling program. Immediately after the match Andre and his manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan gave the belt to Ted "Million Dollar Man" Di Biase and he gave the Brain a suitcase full of money. Both parties were satisfied except the Hulkster who "cried" during a promo he gave after the match.

The stage was set for Wrestlemania IV, W.W.F. "president" Jack Tunney organized a tournament set up involving all of the top singles competitors in the W.W.F. This was supposed to be the greatest wrestling spectacle of all time. Except the matches stunk and the event was four hours long!! The only matches of note was the battle royale (Bad News Brown was the man!) and the old school N.W.A. style match between Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and the Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (those two put on one good match), They should have called this one Wrestlemania "Snore".

But it's worth getting just to hear the most delusional promo ever recorded from the Hulkster!!

B-

Match 1: Bad News Brown won a 20-man battle royal Match 2: Brutus Beefcake defeated Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man via DQ Match 3: The Islanders & Bobby Heenan defeated the British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware via pinfall Match 4: Demolition defeated Strike Force for the Tag Team Championship Round One, Championship Tournament: Ted DiBiase defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan Don Muraco defeated Dino Bravo by DQ Greg "the Hammer" Valentine defeated Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat via pinfall Randy "Macho Man" Savage defeated Butch Reed via pinfall One Man Gang defeated Bam Bam Bigelow via countout Rick Rude and Jake "the Snake" Roberts wrestled to a 15-minute draw

Round Two- Championship Tournament: Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan wrestled to a double DQ Ted DiBiase defeated Don Muraco via pinfall Randy Savage defeated Greg Valentine via pinfall Semifinals, Championship Tournament: Randy Savage defeated One Man Gang by DQ

Finals- Championship Tournament: Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase to capture the World Wrestling World Wrestling Championship

Overall Mark: C+

Not the best WrestleMania ever in terms of actual wrestling quality, but what true fan doesn't love to see all their favorite guys battle it out in a tournament for the richest prize in the game? Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude and Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage were both arguable classics, with a few more real good matches in the first round. The only problem is that there were a few too many matches, which meant that none of them were very long. Still, a very unique and memorable event.

A knock competition is something I think 🤔 could make a great annual tournament and could feature different titles each year depending on what is vacant at the time. This being so different from wrestlemania formula that was built to a high at wrestlemania 3 does not feel like it builds on that instead trying something new.

Ya know, I use to love this show, but on further review...it was pretty damn boring! Way to many matches, and not really any good ones. The World Title Tourny is cool idea, but it lead to alot of quick matches, instead of any worthwhile longer matches. Do yourself a favor, don't bother with this one (unless your a big Randy Savage fan, and I am) But I still didn't care to much for this show.