Rick Steiner used to be awesome.  Seriously.He also used to be a heel in a group called the Varsity Club, which was a team obsessed with their collegiate athletic careers.  The group was led by TV Champion Mike Rotunda and was rather evil.  Steiner wasn’t entirely cool with all the cheating and was mocked as a result, so the team kicked him out and beat him down one day.  Rick, who was portrayed as slightly mentally disabled at the time, came back with one of the hardest belly to belly suplexes you’ll ever see, knocking Rotunda out cold.  Two weeks later when Mike woke up, a TV Title match was announced at Starrcade 1988.

 

The match isn’t the most interesting in the world, but the ending is better than anyone could have wanted it to be.  The Varsity Club tried one of their old tricks by having Steve Williams ring the bell before the time limit was up to confuse the referee.  Kevin Sullivan was lowered from the ceiling (where he had been in a cage hanging above the ring) but the referee didn’t fall for it and said wrestle.  Sullivan got on the apron but Rick rammed Rotunda into him and got a quick pin for the title.

The pop was nothing short of unholy with the fans blowing the roof off the place.  Rotunda had been a nearly unbeatable champion who had held the title for nearly a year.  Steiner sprints around the ring and shouts “I BEAT YOU!” at Rotunda before getting out of the arena so the Club couldn’t kill him.

This was about making the crowd identify with a story and it worked like a charm.  The audience could identify with someone who wasn’t as smart or as skilled as a bully, but he was willing to stand and fight for himself.  Instead of having some superhero stand up to the bully, it was a guy who had faults just like everybody else.  It’s a story everybody could get behind and that made it work.  It’s rare to get a story like that but when one works, the fans are going to get invested in it every single time.

 

TV Title: Rick Steiner vs. Mike Rotundo

 

This should pick things up a bit. The idea here is that Rick used to be in the Varsity Club but was used as a whipping boy by Rotundo for the better part of a year. One day Steiner, whose mind is a bit scrambled because of a car accident he had a few years earlier, got sick of Mike’s treatment of him and suplexed Rotundo into the middle of next week. Rotundo agreed to face Steiner here to embarrass him, because Rotundo claimed that no one could beat him in a twenty minute match, which is the time limit for TV Title matches. Mike is defending if that’s not clear. Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage hanging from the ceiling.

 

Mike gets knocked out to the floor to start as Rick is really excited early on. Back in and the champion puts on a wristlock but gets caught in a quick fireman’s carry to get us back to a standoff. Rick hooks a headlock for a bit until Mike shoves him away. Steiner is perfectly fine with that and takes Rotundo’s head off with a Steiner Line for two. A drop toehold puts Rick down but he immediately counters into a hammerlock. Steiner has been out wrestling Rotundo the entire time here.

 

Mick finally counters into a headlock on the mat but Rick, the good guy here, pulls the hair to escape. Back up and Steiner puts on a headlock but gets suplexed down by the champion. They head to the mat again with Mike holding Rick down in a headscissors. Apparently that’s too boring for them so it’s back up for some more circling. Rick starts dancing a bit so Mike bails to the floor for a breather.

 

Back in and Rick runs him over again, only to miss a charge and go flying over the top and out to the floor. Mike pounds away with some elbows to the head back inside followed by a kick to the chest. Off to a chinlock by Rotundo for a LONG time as the match slows down again. A hard clothesline puts Steiner down again as the commentary has stopped for some reason. Rick comes back with a sunset flip for two but gets punched in the jaw for his efforts.

 

Rick fights back again and hits a quick Steiner Line to take Rotundo down. Now the commentary is back and Steiner is pounding away on Mike in the corner. A big backdrop puts the champion down and a powerslam gets two. Rick hits the belly to belly suplex but Steve Williams rings the bell. The referee thinks it’s the time limit but we’ve only gone about seventeen minutes out of twenty allotted.

 

The timekeeper tells the referee what happened as Sullivan is lowered. Another referee comes down as well and Sullivan gets on the apron. Steiner rams Rotundo into Sullivan, knocking the champion out. Rick gets the pin (from both referees) and the title, blowing the roof off the place. It’s one of the loudest pops you’ll ever hear anywhere in wrestling.

 

Rating: C-. The match mostly sucked, but man alive the ending to that was awesome. This is a perfect example of how you blow off a story at the biggest show of the year. The fans went NUTS for the ending as they identified with Steiner as someone standing up to a bully and finally getting his revenge on said bully. Rotundo would get the title back in a few weeks, but THIS match was the important moment and it was done perfectly.

 

Rick hits the floor and sprints around the ring, pointing at a confused Rotundo and shouting I BEAT YOU I BEAT YOU I BEAT YOU! He grabs the TV Title and runs out of the arena before Williams can kill him as the fans come unglued. This is one of those moments where if you don’t smile just a little bit, odds are you don’t have a soul.

 

 

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TNA Weekly PPV #4
Date: July 10, 2002
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West, Ed Ferrara

For the first time in a few weeks, we don’t have a new title to be decided. We do however have a six way X-Division elimination match as well as a racecar driver vs. K-Krush. The first three shows have been pretty good so far but they need to fill in the middle of their cards better than they have been. Let’s get to it.

While we may not have new champions to decide, we do have two title matches tonight. Hey look, here’s one of them now.

Tag Titles: AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn vs. Slash/Tempest

Tempest is more famous as Devon Storm, who is more famous as Crowbar in WCW. We get a clip from last week with AMW being attacked and taking them out of the tag title tournament. AJ and Lynn teamed up and beat the Rainbow Express for the titles. Slash and Tempest are here because TNA was actually trying to set up a real division instead of having like three teams.

Lynn and Slash get things going. Slash is a power guy so Lynn speeds things up and takes him to the mat with a headlock takeover for two. A rana is countered into a powerbomb which is countered into an X-Factor for another two. AJ comes in and you know things are going to speed up even more. Off to Tempest who takes AJ down by the arm but AJ drop toeholds him to the floor.

Back in and Tempest chops away, followed by a top rope flipping headscissors to take Styles down. AJ tries the move that we would later call the Styles Clash but gets backdropped to the apron instead. Everything breaks down and the Disciples (of the New Church) are sent into each other and out to the floor. AJ dives onto both of them but gets caught, so Lynn dives on all three to knock them down.

Styles gets sent into the apron so Jerry takes over with a slingshot Fameasser, followed by a springboard moonsault from AJ for two on Tempest. Slash takes Lynn down and Tempest hits a Death Valley Driver for two on AJ and a jumping back elbow to set up a chinlock. The Disciples hit a double sitout chokeslam for two as Styles is in the process of getting killed again. Slash hits what we would call the Eye of the Storm for no cover before missing a dropkick.

A discus lariat puts Slash down again and there’s the hot tag to Lynn. There’s a tornado DDT to Slash but Tempest superkicks him down. Tempest’s top rope rana is countered and Lynn hits a middle rope cross body for two. The Cradle Piledriver kills Tempest dead but AJ tags himself in and hits the Spiral Tap for the pin to retain.

Rating: B-. Pretty good opener here as the new champions get a good win to establish themselves as the best. The idea of them fighting over who the best guy on the team is makes for a good story, especially when Styles is X-Division Champion on top of being a tag champion. Good opener here as things are off to a good start tonight.

The win gets pyro for some reason.

We recap the tag match that ended last week’s show with Christopher turning on Hall, giving Krush and Jarrett the win.

Hall calls into the show and says he’s coming for all three of them.

Here’s Christopher to talk about why he turned on Hall last week. He talks about transitioning from being a child to being an adult. Christopher says he’s always been identified as Jerry Lawler’s son (Tenay: “That’s because you are.”). He’s tired of being overshaddowed by his father and he’s going to prove he belongs in this business. He says screw Jerry Lawler because he was never there to be a father to Christopher. Tonight, everything starts to change. He goes on another rant against Lawler for always kissing up to Vince and tonight, it’s all about him, which is why his name is now Brian Lawler.

Brian Lawler vs. Norman Smiley

MAGIC IS BACK!!! Lawler pounds him in the corner and Smiley is in trouble early. A neckbreaker puts Smiley down but Norman comes back with a slam. West is his usual completely over excited self on commentary here, shouting about how Norman needs to DO IT FOR JERRY. Lawler gets spanked a bit but we don’t get the Big Wiggle.

Lawler rams Norman’s head into the mat to stop the comeback and things slow WAY down. Well he is from Memphis so you have to expect a lot of slow paced offense. A charge into the corner hits post though and Smiley fires off some right hands. Norman pounds away in the corner but a low blow puts him down. The Hip Hop Drop (minus the goggles) gets the pin for Lawler.

Rating: D. At the end of the day, it’s Grandmaster Sexay as a big time heel in this company. You can only take that so seriously and I don’t think it worked all that well. The match with Hall is next week so hopefully he gets put down where he belongs. Nothing to see here as it was a Memphis style squash, meaning they stretched a two minute match into over five.

Jarrett doesn’t like that he doesn’t have a world title match tonight. Bill Behrens tells him to chill so Jarrett shoves him, earning a suspension. Jarrett leaves and we hear someone in a locker room that might be James Mitchell yelling at someone else, saying this will never happen again.

K-Krush vs. Hermie Sadler

Time for racecar drivers in the ring. We recap the stuff that set this up which saw two racecar drivers beating Krush (R-Truth) up. Hermie jumps him to start and knocks Krush to the floor and pounds away. Krush chokes him back to the post but misses Hermie’s head with a punch and hits the post instead. Back inside and the ax kick puts Sadler down for two. A powerslam kills Sadler again but he kicks out again. Now it’s a figure four on Sadler but he rolls over to escape it. Krush misses a dropkick but rolls Sadler up for the pin with his feet on the ropes.

Rating: D-. I’m going to keep this short: stop putting racecar drivers in wrestling matches. No one cares, it doesn’t get people interested, and they rarely can do anything in the ring. That’s it.

Krush hits Sadler post match and that’s a DQ so Sadler wins. Sure why not.

Omori, the challenger for Shamrock tonight, is getting ready. Alicia comes up to him and money is exchanged.

Hot Shots vs. Briscoe Brothers

Yep, the ROH Briscoe Brothers who are barely 18 here. The Hot Shots are Cassidy Riley and Chase Stevens. It’s interesting to see the Briscoes basically being jobbers coming into this. I can never remember which Briscoe is which so we’ll say that’s Mark in the ring with Riley. Off to Jay (I was right) who chases Riley around, only to get caught by Mark off a blind tag. The Hot Shots LAUNCH Mark over the top onto Jay followed by a pair of big dives to take the Briscoes out again. Everything breaks down and the Disciples of the New Church come in to clean house for a double DQ.

Malice kills all four of them with chokeslams and Mitchell gets in the ring with the Disciples. He says they want Malice to get a title match against Shamrock or people are going to get hurt. The timekeeper gets brought into the ring but Shamrock comes in before death can occur. The Disciples jump him and beat him down but Omori, the opponent for later, runs in for the save.

The Dupps are ready for the Flying Elvises tonight.

Instead of the tag match we had scheduled, here’s Jasmine St. Clair, an adult star who showed up in ECW in its final year. She talks about how she wants to see some T & A and offers to give JB a lap dance. While dancing she takes off her thong and Bill Behrens comes out to stop it. In a funny bit, Ed Ferrara runs into the ring and spears Behrens down. Behrens eventually covers Jasmine up and drags her away.

The Dupps vs. The Flying Elvises

The Dupps are country boys named Bo and Stan (Trevor Murdoch) and the Flying Elvises are Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada, both of whom you don’t really need to know. Brawl to start and the Dupps sloppily clean house to control early. Mortimer Plumtree comes out for commentary for no apparent reason. Siaki and Stan start things off with Stan in full control. Off to Bo with a shoulder and legdrop for two. Siaki tries to speed things up but gets caught in an Alabama Slam out of the corner.

Mortimer is trying to come up with suspects for the attack on AMW last week which is the most interesting part of the match. Some Elvis cheating gives them control and it’s off to Estrada. After getting in a bit of trouble, Estrada comes back with a split legged moonsault for no cover. Off to Stan who cleans house and kills Estrada with a full nelson slam. Apparently that’s not worthy of selling because Estrada hits a pumphandle throw and a twisting springboard swanton for the pin on Stan.

Rating: D. There was nothing to see here at all. I have no idea who I was supposed to cheer for here and neither team gave me a reason to care about either one of them. This is the kind of filler match that I was talking about in the intro: it’s not horrible or anything, but there’s nothing interesting at all here and I don’t think anyone cared about any of these guys at all.

Lynn and Styles are fighting in catering with Lynn getting the better of it and hitting a good piledriver on an anvil case.

NWA World Title: Takao Omori vs. Ken Shamrock

Harley Race is here for no apparent reason other than he’s Harley Race. Well that’s a good enough reason for me. Shamrock doesn’t have the belt with him for some reason. He quickly takes Omori down and puts on a headscissors. Omori comes back with a spinwheel kick as Tenay talks about how awesome the NWA is. Off to a quick chinlock but Omori misses a spinwheel kick in the corner.

Shamrock goes after the knee like a good submission specialist but then shifts to a simple punch to the jaw. The problem here is already clear: there’s no story to this match and it’s just there because we need a challenger from outside the company. Omori grabs a full nelson slam but his Bombs Away knee drop off the top misses. The crowd is about as interested as I am here, which is why you can hear the guys in the match talking.

A big clothesline which is apparently another of Omori’s finishers gets two and Tenay is the only person fired up about the kickout. Shamrock comes back with a dropkick of all things followed by a leg bar. Well, the wrestling version of one at least. A piledriver from Omori is broken up by a shot to the apparently injured knee of Omori. That’s a pretty quick injury but it’s due to a submission guy so it makes sense at least. Shamrock puts on the ankle lock but Jarrett runs in for the DQ with a chair shot.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much. I’ve said this before: you have to give fans a reason to care about these matches. Who is Omori? What has he accomplished in wrestling to give him a world title match? We’ve never seen him before on this show (and we won’t ever again) and the announcers only mentioned one match he had, which was a seven second win. Well that’s cool, but it doesn’t really make me believe this guy is a world title contender. On top of that, Shamrock was basically just a name at this point and didn’t have anywhere near the skill in the ring that he used to have.

Jarrett beats up both guys with the chair until Harley Race comes in for the save. Jarrett hits him with the chair too and security gets a few shots to their heads too.

Lynn doesn’t have much to say. He leaves so Mitchell and the Disciples show up. They’re looking for Jeff Jarrett because of a sin Mitchell can’t forgive. They leave too and we hear what sounds like screaming or moaning. It’s Bill Behrens bound and gagged on the floor. Ok then.

Low Ki vs. Elix Skipper vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Kid Romeo vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Christopher Daniels

This is a six man elimination match to determine the X-Division rankings. The winner is the #1 contender. This is Daniels’ debut. There are only two in the ring at a time which is probably a good thing for this match. Daniels vs. Romeo to get things going and they trade wristlocks. Both guys avoid various moves before Daniels hits a Japanese armdrag but walks into a dropkick. The winner gets their title match next week apparently.

Skipper comes in and moonsaults over Daniels before superkicking him down for two. Daniels takes him into the corner but Mamaluke tags Daniels to bring himself in. Wouldn’t you want to stay on the apron for the most part of this match? Ferrara points out how much bigger Mamaluke looks which is indeed a striking difference to how he looked in ECW. He goes for the knee but gets clotheslined down by Elix.

Skipper tags in Lynn but it’s quickly off to Low Ki for some hard kicks to Mamaluke. Mamaluke comes back with a hard belly to back suplex for two. Mamaluke grabs some kind of a neck hold on Low Ki but it doesn’t last long. Tony punches Romeo in the corner for no apparent reason before tagging in Daniels, who hits a side slam on Low Ki for two. Romeo comes in and gets kicked before Daniels tags in Lynn. Lynn rolls through a Gory Special into a sunset flip for two. We need to get some people out of here so that it’s easier to tell who is who.

A tornado DDT gets two on Romeo and it’s off to Daniels who misses a top rope splash to Romeo. Lynn vs. Daniels now and Lynn is sent to the floor. Daniels hits a split legged moonsault out to the floor onto Lynn and it’s time for everyone to dive on a bigger pile with each dive. Back in and Lynn hits a guillotine Fameasser onto Daniels while Daniels is in the ropes. Things finally calm down again and it’s Mamaluke vs. Daniels in the ring. Mamaluke rolls some suplexes before hitting a Russian leg sweep for two. Apparently Lynn was on the floor too long and has been eliminated despite not being in the ring He’s ranked sixth.

Skipper hits the Overdrive (MVP’s old Play of the Day) to eliminate Mamaluke and it’s off to Low Ki vs. Skipper. Low Ki sends him into the ropes and Skipper falls through them to the floor. Back in and Low Ki escapes the Overdrive and puts Skipper into a fireman’s carry before ramming Skipper’s back into the buckle. Skipper uses the Matrix to avoid a kick and suplexes Low Ki down for no cover. Instead it’s a missile dropkick to Low Ki which sends him into the corner to tag in Daniels.

Elix almost immediately hits a reverse suplex on Daniels for two but Daniels clotheslines him down. They trade standing switches and Daniels hits the Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) to eliminate Skipper. We’re down to Romeo, Daniels and Low Ki. Romeo comes in and pounds on Daniels before hitting a Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog for two. Low Ki gets knocked to the floor but isn’t counted for no apparent reason. Romeo goes up but Daniels crotches him. They fight on the top and Romeo hits an AWESOME version of what we would call White Noise off the top to get us down to two.

So we’re down to Romeo vs. Low Ki. Wait scratch that as Daniels’ foot was on the ropes. This is one of the things that ECW and TNA has always done that gets on my nerves: you get a HUGE move like that and it only gets two. Low Ki kicks Romeo’s head off and puts on a Dragon Clutch for the tap to get us down to one on one for real now.

They chop it out and Daniels grabs a Downward Spiral to take Low Ki down. A back heel trip puts him down again but Low Ki manages to crotch Daniels on top. Daniels knocks Low Ki off the top and this the BME for a delayed two. They trade rollups for a lot of near falls and for some reason the fans start booing this out of the building. I must have missed something there because that was the most exciting part of the match. Daniels escapes the Dragon Clutch and puts Low Ki on top before slamming him down for two. Last Rites are countered into a sitout fisherman’s buster by Low Ki for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: B-. This is the kind of match that is long rather than quite good. It didn’t really pick up until the very end even then it wasn’t anything great. Having this be elimination was way better than having it be one fall to a finish because those matches are never anything but spot fests. This wasn’t bad but it wasn’t as great as the announcers were hyping it up to be.

The Flying Elvises come out and beat Daniels and Low Ki down before the four other X guys from the main event make the save. The fans chant for Low Ki.

Here’s Jarrett with less than two minutes to go. He wants a title shot next week. Jarrett yells at some Tennessee Titans who jump the railing and beat Jarrett up. The Disciples come out as well and beat up Jarrett to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was ok but they still have a lot of tweaking to do. A lot of the names are there because they’re just that: names. I can certainly forgive them for a lot of stuff here because it’s just their fourth show and they have some stories going on, but they need to fix some of the problems they’ve got here, namely adding some better talent to the midcard. Like I said though, it’s four weeks in so I can’t be too critical yet. Decent show but no great match this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Wrestlemania 4
Date: March 27, 1988
Location: Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Attendance: 18,165
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura
America The Beautiful: Gladys Knight

This show was in a way a turning point and in a way a step backwards for the WWF. There was no way that Wrestlemania 3 was going to be topped. The problem was, after Hogan had beaten Andre the previous year, there was no one left to challenge him that would be seen as a legitimate contender. The only option was a rematch with Hogan and Andre, but Andre was hurting badly here and would need time off after the match.

Also, the title had to be taken off of Hogan for awhile to refresh his character. Now this whole show is based around one incident that took place two days after I was born on a live broadcast called The Main Event. After everyone had seen Hogan allegedly get pinned the previous year, we all needed a rematch. In between there was a new PPV developed called the Survivor Series that was established solely to continue Hogan and Andre’s feud. Now that is a sign of a huge feud.

So, on February 5, 1988, we got one. Hulk Hogan against Andre the Giant for the World’s Heavyweight Championship on free television. You may hear about Raw getting a 4.3 and it being huge. This show got a 15.8. That is a record that has never even been remotely approached and never will be. Anyway, this time around Andre had Ted DiBiase in his corner. Hogan knocks Andre down and leg drops him, but there’s no referee because of Virgil, DiBiase’s body guard.

Hogan goes after Virgil as Andre gets up. Andre headbutts Hogan a few times and lands a butterfly suplex and covers him. Hogan clearly gets his shoulder up at two but the referee doesn’t stop his count. Andre is declared the champion and immediately hands the belt to DiBiase, who had spent months trying to buy the title from Hogan. Immediately after this, another referee comes down that is literally identical to the referee that just called the match.

It’s the Hebners, that no one ever knew were identical twins. On Sunday, the President of the WWF Jack Tunney declares the title vacant and announces a one night, single elimination, 14 man tournament to determine the undisputed champion. Hogan and Andre both get byes into the second round as they were the two that started all this.

If you can handle anymore history about this show, this was also one of the first true battles in what would become WCW vs. WWF. WCW (the NWA but for the sake of sanity we’ll call it what it would become), had a PPV in November called Bunkhouse Stampede. Vince had come up with the Survivor Series and wanted to force WCW out of the spot.

He threatened to not allow the PPV companies to air Wrestlemania if they didn’t air the Survivor Series instead of Bunkhouse Stampede. The PPV companies gave in and a huge majority aired Survivor Series while only a handful aired WCW’s show, which they had initially agreed to show. Fast forward five months and it’s time for Wrestlemania 4. WCW is still ticked off about November.

One thing you have to factor in is PPV was a VERY different thing back then. In 1986 there was 1 WWF PPV which was Wrestlemania 2. In 87 there were two, 88 had 3 with the introduction of Summerslam and 89 had 4 which I believe was the standard until 1991 or 1992. It wasn’t until about 1996 that the PPV schedule became what it is today. But anyway, WCW had to retaliate so they came up with what was called the Clash of the Champions.

What this was more or less was a PPV on free television. Beginning at the same time as WM 4 but ending almost two hours earlier, COTC clearly pulled away a lot of viewers. It was headlined by Sting vs. Ric Flair for the World Title in what just about everyone agrees was the night Sting established himself as a legitimate superstar. The war was on and it would heat up soon but we’ll get to that later. Let’s get to it.

20 Man Battle Royal

Boris Zhukov, Brian Blair, Danny Davis, George Steele, Harley Race, Hillbilly Jim, Jacques Rougeau, Jim Brunzell, Jim Neidhart, Jim Powers, Junkyard Dog, Ken Patera, Nikolai Volkoff, Paul Roma, Bad News Brown, Raymond Rougeau, Ron Bass, Sam Houston, and Sika.

After that long winded explanation, the show is underway in a completely unrelated 20 man battle royal. There’s a huge trophy for the winner which just looks out of place in a wrestling match. Before the match Bob Uecker joins up with Gorilla and Jesse for the first match. Also on the show is Vanna White but she won’t be seen until later. Anyway back to the match.

Big names in this include Bret Hart, Bad News Brown who I always was a mark for, JYD and Harley Race. It’s really a who’s who of the midcard and not much more. This is the first of 16 matches on the card so this is going to be a LONG night. A subplot in this match is George Steel who is in the match but never actually gets in the ring. Pretty standard battle royal with various people punching and kicking each other as people are randomly eliminated.

The final three are the JYD, Bad News Brown and Bret Hart. The heels team up on JYD and eventually eliminate him. The pair agree to split the winnings but Bad News hits an enziguri on Bret and throws him out. Post match, Bret comes in and beats up Brown before destroying the trophy.

Rating: C. It’s hard to rate battle royals as it’s really just waiting until the end. Not much here but the post match stuff is fun to see. It’s time for the first match of the tournament which has time limits of 15 minutes. Robin Leech reads a proclamation that no one cares about to kick us off.

First Round Match: Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase

Before the match, Jesse explains that only winners advance and that in the case of a draw both are eliminated. First round matches have 15 minute time limits, second are 20 minutes, third are 30 minutes, and the final has no limit.

DiBiase has Andre and Virgil with him for this match. Pretty simple match as we have a power brawler against a technician. Pretty back and forth which is fun but you knew the way this was ending before it starts. Duggan goes for his finisher and Andre grabs his foot and punches him as DiBiase hits him with a knee and pins him to advance.

Rating: C-. Fine for what it was, but predictable. Duggan was more or less a walking definition of cannon fodder here as DiBiase was destined to go on to the finals here and continue to be the top heel in the company. This was a decent enough match but it really wasn’t anything special at all.

Beefcake talks about winning the IC title tonight.

First Round Match: Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo

Bravo has Frenchy Martin with him who was a pointless manager that was around for a year or two. Muraco has Billy Graham who has him wearing tye dye. This leads to Jesse continuing one of his running jokes that Graham stole the idea from him. Gorilla counters with “Graham was world champion once too.”

Jesse says that he never went for it that hard and Graham beat a weak champion. Funny antics always. Anyway, this is power vs. power here and not incredibly great. They trade power moves and holds for awhile until Muraco starts to get the advantage. End comes when Muraco hits the ropes and Bravo pulls the referee in leading to the DQ.

Rating: D+. Nothing of note here in a rather boring match. Muraco was again just filling in space and not really worth much. Bravo was floundering around for the vast majority of his WWF career and this was certainly no exception. Pretty boring match and it never went anywhere at all.

Bob Uecker is with the Honky Tonk Man who says Brutus isn’t going to cut any hair tonight.

First Round Match: Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine

Now this match is a match that changed Steamboat’s career. Allegedly he asked for some time off to be with his newborn son and Vince said no way. Dragon was gone a few months later and was in the NWA again, although he would up as a world champion there, so take it however you want it.

What are you expecting here? Of course the match is solid. It’s back and forth all match with Dragon chopping the heck out of Valentine and then bumping like a madman. We see a shot of Donald Trump at ringside. Dragon and Valentine go back and forth and put on a solid match with Dragon pulling away at the end. He goes up for a high cross body but Valentine rolls through it and uses the tights for a pin.

Rating:C. Not bad but not great, could have been very good with another 7-8 minutes. These two are the epitome of old school and the match more or less was as well. Valentine could have been something very special if not for Hogan coming in and changing wrestling for all time. Steamboat was gone very soon after this.

Bulldogs and Koko have trained Matilda to be a weasel dog. Heenan’s nickname was Weasel in case that made no sense at all.

First Round Match: Randy Savage vs. Butch Reed

Reed has a great chance for the upset here don’t you think?

*steps on all the crickets*

Reed was supposed to be a big deal but that never came to pass. He was even scheduled to be a Horseman but again it didn’t happen. I never got the appeal of him but that’s just me. Liz looks GREAT in blue. Reed struts to start and Savage can’t get anything going for the most part. Again I ask those that say Savage was a power guy: when was this ever the case? I’ve never seen it.

Jesse and Gorilla agree that Steamboat losing to Valentine is an upset. That’s rather odd indeed. This is rather boring to put it mildly. Reed hits a fist drop off the middle rope for no cover as it’s all Reed here. Savage gets some punches in but gets his head taken off with a clothesline. Reed goes up to the top like an idiot and talks FOREVER before getting slammed off. Elbow sends Savage to the semis.

Rating: D. Too short to get anything going but the elbow is always as sweet. Reed’s jawing was just kind of stupid and I don’t get the point in having him dominate the vast majority of this one only to have a pair of moves end this. It wasn’t horrible but it needed more going on than what it had if that makes sense.

Heenan and the Islanders say that they’re not worried about Matilda or the Bulldogs.

First Round Match: One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

I can feel Irish’s jaw hitting the floor from here. Bigelow has Oliver Humperdink with him while Gang has Slick. Those might be the best manager names ever. Gang continues to be one of the worst big men of all time. Bammer is impressing me here, even throwing up a cross body block. For a guy weighing 393, that’s quite impressive. Bam Bam dominates and is going for something but Slick pulls the rope down sending him to the floor for a count out in a cheap finish.

Rating: N/A. Decent clash of titans but the ending was just awful. Bigelow was supposed to get a huge push soon after this and it just never came, which I believe was due to a knee injury. Again though with less than three minutes, how into it can I get when almost a minute of that is brawling on the floor?

Hulk Hogan then says that he’s going to slam Andre in one of the most insane promos I’ve ever seen. He talks about the fault line breaking off and everyone falling into the ocean and how Donald Trump would be smart enough to let go of his materialistic possessions and dog paddle with his wife and kids to safety.

Then Hogan talks about taking all of the Hulkamaniacs on the largest back in the world and dog paddling and backstroking all the way to safety. If they’re on his back and he backstrokes, wouldn’t they kind of drown? God bless cocaine.

First Round Match: Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts

Rude is about as perfectly evil as you can be and he plays it beautifully. Jake’s music was just awesome always. This match is solid but a tad boring. One of the great things about it though was you had no idea at all who was going to win it which to me is what makes a match better. What’s the point in watching a predictable match barring being a diehard fan of either person in it?

There was a red hot feud between these two a few months before this and it didn’t ever get the proper blowoff that it should. This match is about fifteen minutes long and maybe 5 minutes or more is chinlock. Jake escapes and goes for the DDT but can’t get it and then back to the chinlock. The draw is clearer than any draw should possibly be. They might as well just have a big sign advertising it.

These two go back and forth but the pace is just too slow. Crowd breaks out a boring chant more than once. Jake keeps wanting the DDT the whole match and Rude keeps trying to get out of it. Finally we get down late in the match and the draw looms over us. After a much better ending, we get to that point and the One Man Gang is in the semifinals.

Rating: D. Solid ending but getting there was a bit painful. I think this match is 40% chinlock. Don’t like the draw either. There were stretches of probably five minutes where I had ZERO to talk about due to it being nothing but bare basics and chinlocks. The crowd is officially dead now so hopefully we get something to perk them up again.

We go to a big bracket to see Vanna White give her limited thought on the tournament. Nothing special here. Vanna looks better with straight hair.

In case you got lost, here’s the updated brackets

Hogan vs. Andre

Dibiase vs. Murago

Savage vs. Valentine

Gang gets a bye and is into the third round already

Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules

Nothing special to this feud at all as they’re simply fighting over who is stronger than who. Nothing more to it than that. No entrance for Herc here. Warrior is nothing special at all here and is just a guy that destroys jobbers and runs to the ring. They ram into each other which gets them nowhere and then lock up.

Three clotheslines from Hercules take down Warrior which stuns Jesse. This is a lot of striking and the occasional power move. In short, it’s very boring indeed. They fight on the floor and tease a countout but get back in in time.

Warrior gets the punches in the corner but Herc gets an atomic drop out of the corner. Full nelson goes on mostly but Hercules can’t get the fingers locked so Warrior can walk up the turnbuckle and drop backwards before shooting a shoulder up for the pin. Warrior clears the ring with the chain post match.

Rating: D. Oh man this was bad. Neither guy was worth anything but at least it was short. This was a rather boring match and somehow Warrior would be in the big undercard match the following year and the main event the year after that. This was pretty bad though but like I said it was only about five minutes long.

REALLY long recap of the Hogan Andre feud.

Second Round Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant

Andre has DiBiase and Virgil with him for this. Much faster pace than last year’s match which to me is an improvement. Andre just goes off to start this match. Hogan breaks it up with some running punches/forearms but DiBiase gets on the apron. Hogan rams them together with the all time best name move: the Double Noggin Knocker. Andre’s offense here is just so simple that it’s great.

This is one of those matches where you can tell Andre just has nothing left so they’re going with REALLY basic stuff to make it look like he’s still awesome when he can barely move. It says a lot that he wrestled at two more Manias and appeared at #7.

Hogan gets in control, Andre chokes him. Hogan gets knocked down, Andre sits on him. Hogan starts running, Andre turns his back to him and Hogan falls down. It’s so simple yet so effective. Hogan comes back and signals for a slam but DiBiase cracks him with a chair as the ref is distracted. Hogan nails Andre with the chair, Andre hits Hogan with it in one of the worst chair shots I’ve ever seen. Not because of how Andre swung but Hogan just looks awful taking it.

Someone with Hogan swinging first it’s a double DQ and both men are eliminated, meaning the winner of DiBiase and Muraco is in the finals. Hogan hits a running chair shot to knock Andre down then chases off Virgil and DiBiase before going back to slam Andre and pose.

Rating: C. These two getting together is always awesome and the faster pace made it a lot better this time. That being said, the match wasn’t much at all. Andre was DONE at this point and everyone knew it. He was trying though so I’ll give him a ton of credit for that. The ending was the only real way to get rid of both of them to set up a new champion so that’s fine too. Just not long enough to be a great match though.

Randy Savage says good things about Hogan but says one of the Mega Powers will win the title.

Second Round Match: Ted DiBiase vs. Don Muraco

Winner goes to the finals. Muraco tries hard here but absolutely no one thinks he has a chance in this match. This is one of those matches that you could easily have cut out and no one would have really cared at all. It’s ok and Muraco used to be awesome. The problem is that now he’s nothing special at all and everyone knows it.

DiBiase gets dominated early on but catches Muraco in the corner with a slingshot kind of move to break the momentum. Matches like this show me just how good DiBiase is in the ring. He’s simply a master out there. His bumping is just amazing. I wish he would have gotten a run with the title around this time as he certainly was at the top of his game as a heel.

I’m still trying to figure out why this match is getting PPV time. Do we need five minutes for this match? It’s Don Muraco for crying out loud. Muraco charges at him but is picked up and lands a great stun gun to get the three count. Good finish.

Rating: C+. As short as it was I liked this match. It showed what DiBiase could do when he was on his own and that he really was indeed a solid wrestler. Muraco is a great foil for him as he’s trying hard but is just outmatched. Fun little match all around and very few if any mistakes in it. Really liked it.

Mr. Fuji and Demolition don’t like Uecker or Strike Force. Demolition was just awesome in all regards. Their promos were no exceptions at all.

The Fink reminds us that because Snake and Rude went to a draw that the Gang is in the semifinals already.

Second Round Match: Greg Valentine vs. Randy Savage

Same idea here as in Steamboat and Valentine. Do you really expect a bad match from these two? The battle of the elbows begins and it’s pretty solid the whole way though. There’s almost no wasted movement in this match which is just awesome. As expected, it’s all Valentine to start.

Hammer was a guy that could have been a lot better and something really special if not for the whole Hogan changes wrestling forever deal. He was that good back in the day and a world title contender. Time passed him by though and it showed badly.

He works over all of Savage without much of an emphasis on the knee. Valentine was the resident Figure Four dude at this time so it would make sense for him to go after. I guess that’s why he’s going to lose here.

Savage just starts going off on him from out of nowhere which is just kind of cool for some reason. It’s finally broken up when Savage goes for an axe handle from the top and gets punched in the stomach. Savage reverses the figure four into a small package even with Valentine’s should clearly up.

Rating: C+. Seriously, what did you expect here? Of course it’s a solid match. Fast paced with a good ending means a good grade. It was a bit too short to get anything going but they tried at least. Savage would obviously go onto bigger things but Valentine’s career had pretty much peaked by this point.

Vanna White is back again. She’s still annoying.

Intercontinental Title: Brutus Beefcake vs. Honky Tonk Man

Standard Honky Tonk match with him just getting beaten to death as the face looks like there’s no way he can lose. Here’s a few reasons why Honky is miles ahead of Santino. The commentators talk about how he’s the luckiest wrestler alive. He also gets some offense in. A big reason is because Santino tries to be funny. Honky tries to be serious and comes off as funny. Subtle, yet a key difference that made Honky better.

Finally, Honky had a signature move that won him matches. Honky was just much more believable as IC champion and this is a prime example of it. Brutus runs Honky around to start and nothing comes out of it. Jimmy gets involved and Honky takes over. His offense was shall we say limited? This goes on for far longer than it’s possible to stay interested for. Gorilla and Jesse crack jokes to fight the boredom.

Brutus puts on the sleeper but Hart hits the ref with the megaphone. Peggy Sue, Honky’s girlfriend (played amazingly by Sherri Martel) pours water on Honky to wake him up after Brutus chases Jimmy Hart under the ring and is seriously looks as if he’s trying to rape Hart. Just a bad image. He pins him down to the stairs and cuts his hair. Honky wakes up and runs with Hart.

Rating: D+. Decent match, but standard for Honky. He never really got away from that one formula of his which is kind of good actually. It worked, so why change it? When you blow the roof off the Garden like they did when he finally lost the title you must be doing something right. Match was nothing you wouldn’t expect from a Honky IC Title defense.

In for some reason one of the most famous promos of all time, Andre runs into Bob Uecker and reveals that DiBiase’s master plan centered around Andre eliminating Hogan. Uecker tries to mention something and Andre chokes him in what I believe was an unplanned spot.

Islanders and Heenan against Koko B. Ware and the British Bulldogs

Backstory-the Islanders had dog napped Matilda a few weeks ago for no good reason. This is the Bulldogs’ chance to get revenge. Koko is there because they needed a third face that could fill up a spot. Heenan comes out in an attack dog handler’s outfit which looks like an untied straight jacket. Cool idea actually.

This is more or less seven and a half minutes of this: the heels beat down a face, Heenan gets in like two kicks, the face gets up because Heenan only got in like two kicks, Heenan runs and tags out, we repeat that.

Pretty bland match here that is a filler. Heenan does a little but nothing of significance. Islanders launch Heenan into the air to slam him down onto Koko for the pin. Exact same thing they did last year with the Bulldogs.

Rating: D+. Filler that was the same match that happened in the previous year’s six man. Did they really think that little of the Bulldogs? Can you tell I’m getting bored with this show? This is another great example of a match that had no business being on this show. It wasn’t any good anyway and the dog did nothing between the beginning and ending.

Jesse Ventura poses for the crowd. DiBiase is announced as having a bye into the finals.

Semi-Final Match: Randy Savage vs. One Man Gang

You know the drill by now. Savage gets beaten up, comes back, gets beaten up a little more, Slick throws in the cane, ref sees it, DQ.

Rating: D. This match was more or less nothing. We knew almost as soon as Hogan and Andre got eliminated what the finals would be. Why should I care about this match when there’s not even an elbow?

For some reason we see Vanna White talking about the tournament AGAIN and still no one cares.

Tag Titles: Strike Force vs. Demolition

Strike Force had been champions for six months at this point but are somehow still considered transitional champions. Demolition had been around a little over a year at this point but were just now the dominant force that they became famous for being. Martel and Smash start us off. Jesse thinks that the Boston Crab, the move that won the titles for Strike Force, won’t work on Demolition because they’re too big. The hold beat Jim Neidhart though. That’s kind of an odd statement to make Mr. Governor.

Jesse can’t tell Demolition apart. We get a big brawl seconds in and finally get back to the starters. Does that make Tito the first guy off the bench? Strike Force hits double teaming to start which causes Jesse and Gorilla to fight a bit. Tito plays Ricky Morton for a bit as the big guys pound on him.

Tito gets the forearm out of nowhere to put Axe down. Jesse says he learned that in the MFL: the Mexican Football League. I give up. Off to Martel who cleans house. He manages to get the Boston Crab on Smash who is screaming. Fuji gets up to distract the referee and drops the cane, which promptly is wrapped around Martel’s cranium. Smash crawls on top to win the titles.

Rating: C-. This was about as formula based as you could get but the pop at the end sends it over the peak a bit. Demolition looked awesome here and would go on to hold the titles for a mind blowing year and a half which is never going to be touched. Strike Force was more or less done here as they lost the rematch and Martel was out for about 8 months and he turned heel in his first match back with Santana. Nothing great here, but certainly historic.

WWF World Title: Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase

This was a very interesting match at the time because no one knew who was going to win it. That to me will always make a match better. From what I’ve heard the original plan was to have Hogan get to the finals with DiBiase and lose thanks to Andre, eventually getting the title back at Summerslam while Savage would win the IC title from Honky either here or at Summerslam. However, Honky refused to do it and they made this the plan. I like the first one better I think.

Anyway, Andre and DiBiase are here against Savage and Liz. Andre keeps cheating so Savage whispers to Liz and everyone knows what’s coming as for about two minutes no one is watching the ring. This is about as simple of an explanation as you could ask for regarding the problems that would plague Savage’s reign.

What possible reason do we need Hogan out there for? Rather than having him out there and taking part of the spotlight, why not have Savage make the Superman comeback and get the title on a rollup when Andre can’t make the save? Instead we have Hogan coming out there, making himself the focus or at least half of it. This right away makes Savage look like a weak champion because Hogan made the save and Savage would have lost without him.

This is the kind of stuff that Savage would be paranoid about and have big delusions over over time. They’re proven right as Hogan comes through the curtain to even the odds. Savage looks dead in the ring which is what he’s supposed to do. The fans are all looking at him now because he’s the new thing they see out there. Anyway, DiBiase mostly destroys Savage with nothing too special as Savage is just dead.

Great false finish as Savage goes for the elbow and the place goes nuts but he misses it. Million Dollar Dream and Savage tries to get to the ropes but Andre pulls it back. Ref warns him and Hogan comes in and nails DiBiase with a chair leading to the elbow and a new champion! Post match sees something very interesting as Hogan, Savage and Liz celebrate. For those that can read lips, you can see Savage say to Hogan, “Please let me have my moment.” Hogan doesn’t leave, and that my friends, started the real life feud between these two.

Rating: B. We had seen these guys WAY too much tonight which is the problem with tournaments. We just get sick of these guys. Savage had 4 matches at this show. He’s one of the best ever but four times in a show is just too much.

Overall Rating: D+. The big problem is how predictable it is once Andre and Hogan are gone. After that you knew it would be Savage or DiBiase. Overall, this Mania is just too long. Ringing in at about 4 hours, there just isn’t enough here to warrant such a time. Savage winning was indeed mind blowing at the time and this show sets up a year’s worth of feuds including the first ever Summerslam where Hogan and Savage faced DiBiase and Andre.

The main issue here is that there were sixteen matches on this. Think about that for a minute. SIXTEEN MATCHES. That’s the vast problem here. Did we really need to see guys like Muraco and Bravo in the tournament? Or did we need to have the six man? This show really could have used 30-60 minutes cut out of it and then it would have been far more watchable.

The other thing this leads to is Hogan and Savage trying to share the spotlight as the Mega Powers which ultimately leads to their split and the main event of next year’s Wrestlemania. Other than that, not a lot really comes out of this show. It’s a decent PPV if you want to see just about every 80s wrestler alive perform but if you’re looking for solid matches, just watch a handful of them or you’ll be asleep by the middle of the show.

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