Wrestlemania IV

[Guest bob_barron]

Wrestlemania IV

 

Live from Atlantic City, NJ. Your hosts are Gorilla and Jessie.

 

Mean Gene introduces Gladys Knight who sings America the Beautiful and My Country Tis of Thee. Jessie and Gorilla hype the night as Uecker joins them.

 

Invitational Battle Royal for a big-ass trophy

 

We got- Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Paul Roma, Jim Powers, Sika, “Dangerous” Danny Davis, Jim Brunzell, B. Brian Blair, Bad News Brown, Sam Houston, Jacques Rougeau, Raymond Rougeau, Outlaw Ron Bass, JYD, Ken Patera, Nikolai Volkoff, Hillbilly Jim, Boris Zhukov, Harley Race and George “The Animal” Steele

 

Everyone brawls- Steele refuses to get in the ring. Sam Houston gone. Sika gets tossed. Brunzell teases elimination a lot. Steele pulls Anvil out. The Bees and Raymond gone. JYD gets Outlaw Ron Bass. Hillbilly Jim gone. Davis is gone. Powers is out. Bolshevicks and Patera tossed. Race gets Jacques. Race is gone. Bad News gets Paul Roma. The heels work over JYD and after some miscommunication  and fighting back from him they finally get him out. Bret thinks they’ll split the trophy but BNB ghetto blasts him, kicks his ass and tosses him DUD Bret the sore loser trashes the trophy. This battle royal was insanely bad. Uecker leaves to find Vanna White

 

The story behind the tournament-

Ted Dibase had just entered the WWF and was trying to buy the WWF Title from Hogan. After being denied- Dibase went to Brain and bought Andre’s contract. On an episode of Main event- thanks to some crooked refereeing Hogan lost the title to Andre who promptly gave it to Dibase. Jack Tunney ruled this wasn’t allowed and ordered a 14 man tourney with Hogan and Andre getting byes to round two.

 

Here is the tournament bracket-

Dibase v. Duggan/Muraco v. Bravo/Hogan-BYE/Andre-BYE/Steamboat v. Valentine/Savage v. Butch Reed/OMG v. Bam Bam Bigelow/Rude v. Roberts

 

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan v. Ted Dibase (w/Virgil and Andre the Giant)

 

Lockup- Dibase gives him a clean break. Lockup- Duggan hammers away. Lockup- Slugfest- Duggan wins and gets an atomic drop that sends Dibase flying out. Lockup- Dibase cheats and takes control. Duggan comes back with clothesline and does ten punches. Blind charge by Duggan misses and Dibase kicks his ass. Fist to face-2. Duggan comes back with punches and sunset flip-2. Dibase works him over but Duggan reverses a suplex. Dibase eats foot coming from top rope and gets his ass kicked. Duggan goes for three point stance but Andre holds onto his leg and nails him. *1/2

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- indies, retired

 

Mean Gene is with Brutus and compliments his package.

 

Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) v. Don “The Rock” Muraco (w/Billy Graham)

 

Lockup- Rock works him over and even slips off the rope. Dumbass. Bravo comes back and works him over. Bravo misses a blind charge and The Rock works on the leg. Bravo boots him out and Muraco hangs himself. Piledriver by Bravo-2. Muraco blocks another power move and we get a double clothesline. Slugfest- Muraco wins and hits a flying forearm. Bravo shows the ref in front of Muraco and hits the side suplex. Bravo thinks he’s won but gets DQed. That sucked. ½*

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- dead, semi-retired

 

Uecker talks about Vanna and runs into Jimmy Hart and Honky Tonk.

 

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (w/his son) v. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)

 

Lockup- Hammer shows his power. Dragon gets headlock and they do a criss-cross which results in some Dragon armdrags. Dragon works on the arm and works him over. Chop-2. Dragon works him over and gets a shoulderblock-2. Hammer throws him out but Steamer comes back in and gets another near fall. Steamer goes back to the arm. Hammer elbows him and chops him and works him over. Elbow-2. Steamer blocks suplex and rams him into turnbuckle. Steamer works on the arm. Hammer gets an atomic drop and hits a clothesline. Hammer elbows away and kicks his ass. Ivana looks bored. Steamer chops him for two. Steamer tries a bodyslam but Hammer falls on him for two and works him over. Steamer blocks figure four and rams him into turnbuckle. They have a chop-war and Steamer wins. Steamer covers-2. Hammer thumbs his eye and hits the shoulderbreaker-2. Top-rope chop but Steamer blocks figure-4. Steamer gets the chops. Flying chops-2. Hammer gets rammed ten times into the turnbuckle and shoves Hebner. Flying bodypress but Hammer rolls through with the tights. A bit on the boring side. **1/2 Steamer waves goodbye and heads off to NWA.

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- retired, indies

 

Mean Gene is with Koko, Matilda and the Bulldogs.

 

“Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) v. “The Natural” Butch Reed (w/Slick)

 

Lockup- Savage dumps bumps. Lockup- Reed rams into the corner and kicks his ass. Savage comes back but Reed reverses suplex and kicks his ass some more getting some near falls. Reed puts his head down and gets booted. Savage gets some offence in but gets clotheslied. Reed goes up top but spends too much time jawing with Liz and gets thrown off. Flying elbow wins it. ¼* Should’ve made it a Savage squash.

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- holding up WWA for 5 mil, ?

 

Uecker is still looking for Vanna. The Islanders and Brain show up.

 

One Man Gang (w/Slick) v. Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Oliver Humperdick)

 

OMG attacks to start and kicks his ass. OMG misses blind charge and BBB splashes him-2. High crossbody-2. BBB works him over. Elbow-2. BBB punches and headbutts away. Slick pulls down the top rope and BBB gets counted out despite being on the apron. Horrible match with a horrible ending –*

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- Gimmick battle royal, I think still wrestles

 

Mean Gene is with Hogan who gives the greatest interview ever.

 

Jake “The Snake” Roberts v. “Ravishing” Rick Rude (w/Brain)

 

Rick Rude does his usual pre-match spiel. Lockup- Rude flexes. Lockup- Rude falls. Rude slams him and works him over. Jake comes back and hits two slams. Rude begs off. Rude sees Damien and freaks out. Jake works on the arm and slugs away. Rude comes back with punches but Jake maintains control of the wristlock. Rude rams his head into the midsection and hammers away. Roberts comes off the top with the high knee. Rude runs away from DDT. Lockup- Roberts gets hammerlock. Criss-cross Roberts gets bodyslam BUTT misses the high-knee. Rude gets a clothesline and swivels. He drops on Jake and covers for two. Rude hits the chinlock. Rude swivels more and hammers away. Rude covers-2. Rude goes back to chinlock. Crowd starts in with the boring chants. Top-rope fistdrop gets two. Rude goes back to chinlock. Rude works him over and gets some two counts and goes back to the chinlock. Boring chants are very loud. Jake comes back and explodes with the punches and kicks his ass. Rude gets a suplex for two. Rude gets a pin with his foot on the ropes but time limit expires. I’d love it if they booked time limit draw where you didn’t know there was gonna be a time limit draw in the first match. An atrociously bad match. -**

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- crackhouse, dead

 

So we got- Hogan v. Andre/Dibase v. Muraco/Savage v. Hammer/OMG-Bye. Mean Gene and Vanna are nice enough to go over this with us

 

Hercules (w/Brain) v. Ultimate Warrior

 

Staredown and a shovefest. Lockup- Warrior hammers away. Herc gets some clotheslines to put Warrior down. Warrior comes back but gets backdropped out on his feet. He pulls Herc out with him and they slug it out. Herc takes control with punches but Warrior is too strong and kicks his ass. Herc gets an atomic drop and works him over. Warrior misses a blind charge and Herc gets full nelson. Warrior falls down and pulls his shoulder up to win. A green Warrior v. Herc ain’t pretty. ¾*

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- ?, Arizona

 

Herc chokes him out with chain but Warrior shrugs it off. Jess and Gorilla hype next match and we get a video package. Sugar Ray Leonard is here.

 

Hulk Hogan v. Andre the Giant (w/Ted Dibase and Virgil)

 

Andre kicks his ass to start. Hulk with the forearms and he beats up Dibase. He knocks their heads together and chops Andre. Andre gets caught in the ropes. Andre goes down on one knee and fals. Hulk drops the elbows- Andre chokes him and kicks his ass. More chokes by Andre and he applies a nervehold. Hogan hulks up and hammers away. Virgil distracts ref and Dibase chairs him. Hoga n and Andre fight over the chair and get DQed. They both hit each other with chairs. Andre was pretty much a cripple and Hogan didn’t feel like showing up. -** Hogan suplexes Virgil in the crowd, slams Andre and gives the crowd their money’s worth by posing.

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- WWF, dead

 

Mean Gene is with Liz and Macho.

 

Ted Dibase v. Don “The Rock” Muraco (w/Superstar Billy Graham)

 

Muraco attacks to start and kicks his ass. Powerslam-2. Muraco works him over. Top rope chop-2. Dibase tries to bail but Muraco catches him and lays in the asskicking. Dropkick-2. Dibase bails. Graham threatens him with the cane and he goes back in and Muraco continues to work him over. Muraco tries to pull him from the ropes but Dibase holds on and slingshots him out. Dibase chokes him and stomps away. Dibase works him over and gets a two count and continues to work him over. Elbow- Muraco puts foot on ropes. Dibase chokes him and chops away. Dibase puts his head down and pays for it. Dibase is up first and rakes the eyes. Slam but he misses top-rope elbow. Muracho hammers away. Dibase begs off but punches him. They do some more stuff and Dibase gets a stungun for the win. The boredom continues ¾*

 

“Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) v. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)

 

Lockup- Hammer works him over. Savage comes back and whips him face first into corner. Legdrop-2.Hammer hits a forearm and a top-rope forearm. Elbow-2. Shoulderbreaker by Hammer-2 and he works him over. Hammer dumps him out and kicks his ass on the outside. Hammer stomps away and drops elbows and chokes him. Hammer works on the leg. He goes for figure-4 but Savage makes ropes. Suplex-2. Backbreaker-2. Savage kicks him and comes back. Double axehandle- Hart saves. Hammer rakes the eyes and goes to work. Savage reverses a suplex but eats a punch coming down. Savage misses a kneedrop thanks to Jimmy Hart’s warning. Hammer goes for figure-4 but Savage reveres to small package. Another boring match. *1/4

 

So we got- Dibase-BYE/Macho v. OMG. Mean Gene and Vanna recap the tourney.

 

Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue Martin) v. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake for the WWF Intercontinental Title

 

Lockup- HTM takes control but eats atomic drop. Barber messes up his hair and HTM bails. Back in- HTM goes to eyes but Barver kicks his ass and rams him ten times into turnbuckle. High knee- HTM bails. Barber pulls him back in and kicks his ass more but misses elbow and stomps away. HTM works him over and even Jimmy Hart gets his shots in. Barber blocks Shake Rattle-n-Roll and beats his ass. Sleeper-Jimmy Hart runs in and bops the ref with the megaphone for the DQ. At least it wasn’t negative stars. ½* Jimmy Hart gets some of his hair cut post-match.

 

Uecker is still looking for Vanna White and gets choked by Andre. Funny stuff

 

The Islanders and Brain v. The British Bulldogs and Koko B Ware

 

The deal is that the Islanders and Brain basically kidnapped Matilda and did bad stuff to it like having people in the WWF locker room give it steroids. Heenan dives away from Matila to start. Dynamite kicks the Islanders ass and beats on Tama. Tama does a slingshot and flies all the way out. Tag Davey Boy and Haku and the two powerhouses go. DBS gets crossbody for two. Slam-2. Crucifix-2 and DBS hits a chinlock. Haku comes back and works on the arm and tags Tama. DBS press slams Tama but Tama rakes the eyes and tags Haku. Haku elbows him and goes to work but DBS lands on his feert and tags Koko. Koko dropkicks Haku and legscissors both Islanders. Tag Dynamite. Dynamite misses blind charge and plays face-in-peril. Tag Brain. Brain stomps away and tags Tama. Dynamite continues to play face-in-peril as the Isles works him over. Splash hits knees, hot tag Koko who cleans house. Haku kicks Koko and they kick his ass. Tag Tama who splashes him and they tag Brain. Brain kicks his ass. Koko comes back but Brain goes to eyes. Brain does his face first corner bump twice. The Islanders run in and kick his ass and it’s a pier-6 brawl. In the melee they splash Heenan on Koko for the win. Would it have killed them to let the Bulldogs kick their ass and win *1/2 Post-match the faces clean house and Matilda attacks Brain.

 

Jessie poses for the fans. Dibase comes out to accept his buy

 

“Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) v. One Man Gang (w/Slick)

 

Lockup- Savage hammers away and drops him on the ropes. Savage soon gets his ass kicked by OMG. Slam- Savage puts foot on the ropes. Elbow-2. 747 Splash and blind charge misses. Savage comes back and is able to get OMG to the outside where he hits him with double axehandle. Savage goes for slam which fails and Slick jaws with Liz. Savage goes after Slick but OMG hits him with the cane for the DQ. Yawn- would Macho winning clean have killed anyone? ¼* Post-match Savage hits OMG who falls on top of Slick.

 

The Finals to Determine the Undisputed Champion- Dibase v. Savage. Mean Gene and Vanna helpfully recap this for us. Uecker shows up but misses her.

 

Strike Force v. Demolition (w/Mr. Fuji) for the WWF Tag Titles

 

Smash and Martel to start. Smash kicks his ass but Chico Santana runs in and we got a pier-4 brawl. Strike Force beat on Smash for two. Tito and Smash go and Smash quickly tags Ax. Tito works over Ax and tags Martel who works on the arm. Tag Santana and tag Smash and Santana works on his arm. Bearhug by Smash and Ax clotheslines him. Chico Santana plays face-in-peril and the heels work him over and get some near falls. Santana gets an elbow but Demos cut off the tag. Flying Jalapeno- hot tag Martel who cleans house. Boston Crab by Martel but the ref is busy getting Tito out of the ring and Tito is busy going after Fuji so Ax bops Martel with the cane. Demos win. A bit boring but not as bad as the other crap. *3/4

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW- Ax is retired, Smash was in gimmick battle royal, Strike Force is retired

 

Robin Leach brings out the WWF Title and Uecker comes out as guest ring announcer. Some fan jumps out in front of him so Uecker plays it cool and higs the guy and sends him on his way to get his ass kicked. Uecker introduces Vanna and gets a hard-on by the looks of it. Uecker gets kissed and just as this funny grin.

 

Ted Dibase (w/Andre the Giant) v. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) in the finals to determine the new WWF Champion

 

Lockup- Savage elbows him but Andre hooks his leg. Savage gets a hammerlock, Dibase reverses, Savage gets headlock and gets a shoulderblock. Andre trips him. Lockup- Dibase works on the arm. Savage reverses. Dibase rams him into turnbuckle and chops away. Dibase works him over. Clothesline-2. Savage blocks sunset flip and gets clothesline-2. Dibase regroups and comes back and hammers away. Dibase works him over. Savage comes back and drops him on top rope and boots him outside. Savage wants to jump but Andre blocks him and Savage whispers something to Liz who heads back to locker room. Dibase kicks his ass and gets a shot in for two. Dibase with a chinlock so the fans will notice the Hulkster who brings a chair with him. Dibase hammers away and Andre cheats more so Hogan attacks. Savage comes back but Dibase rakes the face. Suplex-2. Gutwrench suplex-2. Savage throws him off top rope but misses flying elbow and Dibase hooks The Million Dollar Dream. Ref is busy talking to Andre so Hogan levels him with a  chair. Savage hits flying elbow for his first title. **1/4 A little too slow for my tastes. The Megapowers celebrate and Savage lifts Liz on his shoulders.

 

The Bottom Line- Weeeeeeeeeeeeeel this show sucks ass. It is four hours long and features not one good match and three matches in negative stars. Its just a bloated overly long and even the man event can’t save it. A lot of people talk about the history of the show and recommend it for that but if you want to know the history- just read about it or watch a Wrestlemania History special. Don’t waste four hours of your life on this shit unless you love Macho.

 

Strong Recommendation to Avoid.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

I don't know.  I like this show for some reason.

[Guest Tony149]

I also liked the show for some reason. I guess its because of Jesse & Gorilla. Then again, I also liked WM XV.

[Guest bob_barron]

A lot of people seem to like this show b/c of the tourney or Savage or the Demos winning and a lot of people find it to be very entertaining but WMIV was just a chore to sit thorugh and recap- I would've rather saved my $ and seen Clash.

[Guest RetroRob215]

Yeah, I only like it because it is a tournament and I have a thing for tournaments...

[Guest JHawk]

I dunno.  I remember thinking this was the worst WrestleMania ever for years, but it gets better everytime I see it.  Then again I enjoyed WM IX the first time I saw it and hate it more and more each time I see it, so take that for what it's worth.