Let's Talk About...Wrestlemania V

[Bruiser Chong 0]

With Wrestlemania in sight and last week's discussion about Wrestlemania IV, it seems fitting to tackle another bloated Mania: Wrestlemania V.

 

 

Wrestlemania IV catches a lot of grief for its run time and rightfully so. However, the second of the Trump Plaza Wrestlemanias is just as long and packed with as many throwaway matches.

 

The Good

 

- Trump Plaza: even though the audience for both of these shows were awful, the shows are in the group of Manias with a distinct look. We've heard the horror stories of how the arena's configuration didn't make for a good show, but that seemingly endless stairway is one of those little things I've forever linked with vintage Wrestlemania.

 

- Savage/Hogan: Hogan's best Wrestlemania match features Savage going out like a champ. I don't think it was any mystery as to who was going over here, but Macho nevertheless came out with his working boots on. It's one of the few Hogan matches I can actually sit through without searching for the fast-forward button.

 

- Strike Force/Brainbusters: Probably one of the early Manias' most overlooked matches. You don't hear many talk about this, even though it's notable for the split of Strike Force if absolutely nothing else. I kind of take a twisted joy in watching Tito get obliterated once Martel takes a hike. And with the way this went down, you would've figured a Martel/Santana singles match at a show such as Summerslam would be a given.

 

- Rockers/Twin Towers: Really nothing more than a glorified squash for the Towers, but it's a fun squash.

 

- Blue Blazer/Mr. Perfect: Another overlooked match. There isn't much to say about this without sounding cliche, so we'll just all agree it's a terrific little match.

 

The Bad

 

- Pointless undercard matches: This is the show that started a brief trend of Wrestlemania matches that didn't seem to have any point other than to get as many guys on the show as possible. Dino Bravo and Ron Garvin? Hart Foundation against the HTM and Greg Valentine? Brutus Beefcake taking on Ted DiBiase? Duggan and his snotty nose against Bad News Brown? I know there are shreds of reason behind these matches being included, but they're just filler. And not very good filler at that.

 

- Run-DMC: I'm a hip-hop fan, so it's not the genre of music I've got a problem with. It's the group ceasing to be relevant years before this. And a venue filled with wealthy gamblers doesn't seem like the time to bring in a rap act.

 

- Piper/Downey/Brother Love: My god. It's one thing to have a show run long because of the actual matches, but crap like this is what pushed the show to a near-four-hour run time. And it just went on and on.

 

- Warrior/Rude: Their Summerslam match a few months later is one of my favorite Warrior matches, but this one is nothing like it.

 

The Ugly

 

- Jake/Andre: Andre was understandably awful at this point, but unless memory fails me, this match got damn near 10 minutes plus all the extracurricular activities with Virgil and DiBiase briefly stealing Damien.

 

- Demolition/Powers of Pain: The logic was there on paper for these two teams to be at odds, but did they ever have anything closely resembling a decent match?

 

- The celebrities: I've never been one to judge a Mania's quality by the celebrities involved, but this was the first year where it became clear they weren't necessary at all. At least, not this caliber of celebrity. There's Morton Downey Jr., Donald Trump, Run-DMC, and uh, no one else. And let's not forget that we go from Gladys Knight singing "America the Beautiful" to Rockin' god damn Robin doing it on this show.

 

Final Thoughts: I actually like this show, since it's one of the select events I saw dozens of times as a child thanks to home video. There are many moments here that I would dare call "warm and fuzzy" for me. But there's a ton of trash padding the few true bright spots. And yet, it's always Wrestlemania IV we hear about when people bemoan about boring Wrestlemania shows.

[Guest]

The worst part is Piper's Pit. Hate, hate, hate that part. As mentioned before, I don't mind long shows or shows that try to get everyone on the card. In fact, those are my favorites.

 

I think I've watched this one twice, as opposed to how many times I've watched WM IV, which has to be in the double digits. That's my contribution.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I think WMIV gets the bad rap since you see the same wrestlers coming back over and over for largely mediocre matches whereas here, virtually everyone on the roster (sans Koko B Ware) has a singular match.

 

In all fairness, the Harts/Honky & Valentine match had a decent angle behind it w/ Honky clobbering Bret w/ the guitar on SuperStars.

 

I find the Piper's Pit a guilty pleasure. Pritchard's Piper was spot on and Piper constantly yelling "Mishtah Downay, don't blow no mo shmoke in mah face!" made me laugh back in the day and still does.

 

And who would have thought Terry Taylor would retire w/ a WrestleMania victory under his belt?

 

Plus, it was probably Monsoon and Ventura's greatest tandem commentary effort.

[King Kamala 0]

Yeah, everything Bruiser Chong said is pretty much spot on in his assesment of the show. Though I don't hate the Piper's Pit as much as he does. Yes, it's overly long but I think it has its moments (Brother Love's Piper impression, Piper blowing a fire extinguisher in Downey's face). I chuckle whenever I see the segment where Fuji trains for his match by running in the WrestleMania V fun run (while wearing his suit no less!) and cheats to win it.

 

Another problem with the show was a lot of extraneous non-wrestling crap. Besides the aforementioned Piper's Pit and Run-DMC performance, wasn't there a segment where they welcomed back Jimmy Snuka? Now normally this type of thing would be fine as it would only take up a minute or two of time but not at Trump Plaza where it takes five minutes to walk up and own the stairs. And were they really planning on pushing Snuka anyways?

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I love WrestleMania V, from top to bottom. Very fond memories of this event dating back to my elementary school years when I first started watching pro wrestling.

- Hercules pinned King Haku

I just remember the finish coming out of nowhere. Decent little bout, for what it was worth.

- Akeem & Big Bossman pinned The Rockers

I have been a Rockers fan as long as I have been a wrestling fan. Seriously, the first match I ever saw was a Rockers match. This does not disappoint, as they made the Twin Towers look very good in this match.

 

"Not enough mustard behind it." - Jesse Ventura

 

- Ted DiBiase & Brutus Beefcake battled to a double-count out

 

"It's called wrestling, not fighting with hedgeclippers." - Jesse Ventura

 

- The Bushwhackers pinned The Rougeau Brothers

Heh...

 

- Curt Hennig pinned The Blue Blazer

I was a Blue Blazer mark long before I knew that it was Owen Hart, or before I knew what a mark was. Definitely the highlight of the show, even if it was an afterthought that was kept short.

 

Run DMC perform the "WrestleMania Rap"

How the hell do you not love this?

 

- Tag Team Title: Champions Demolition pinned The Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji

Passable.

 

- Dino Bravo pinned Ron Garvin

What can I say- I mark out for the Garvin Stomp!

 

- The Brainbusters beat Tito Santana & Rick Martel

Just awesome to see Arn and Tully appearing on a WrestleMania card together, and who better to square off with than Santana and Martel?

 

"Chico Santana has won many a match with that (flying forearm)." -Jesse Ventura

 

- The Hart Foundation beat Greg Valentine & The Honky Tonk Man

Just an excuse to get the Harts on PPV.

 

- Piper's Pit: Roddy Piper had guests Brother Love & Morton Downey Jr.

Classics stuff.

 

"Brother Rodney Piper" - Brother Love

 

- I-C Title: Rick Rude pinned The Ultimate Warrior to win the title

Biggest upset of the night.

 

- Jake Roberts beat Andre the Giant via DQ - Big John Studd was referee

Always liked the mysterious missing turnbuckle spot at the very beginning. The seeds for DiBiase/Roberts being planted was awesome as well.

 

- Jim Duggan & Bad News Brown fought to a double-DQ

I remember this mostly for the snot hanging out of Duggan's nose.

 

- The Red Rooster pinned Bobby Heenan

Poor Taylor. Even though deep down I kinda like the whole Rooster getup. And any WrestleMania moment that includes the Brooklyn Brawler is indeed a special one.

 

- WWF Title: Hulk Hogan regained the title by defeating Randy Savage

Good psychology. I loved how Ventura was digging into Hogan here. Were they ever planning on bringing Ventura out of retirement to face off against Hulk?

[MillenniumMan831 0]

"She better stick to wrestling"

"Please, like you could do any better"

 

Ventura and Monsoon discussing Rockin Robin's hackjob of America the Beautiful.

[King Kamala 0]

Why'd they get her to do it anyways? Someone e-mail Meltzer! I always theorized that a famous singer was supposed to do it but cancelled at the last minute so they decided to use one of the wrestlers they weren't using to do it

 

 

If that was the case, I wish they'd have used this guy.

 

 

Yes, I just wanted an excuse to post The Piledriver video.

[LooseCannon25 0]

I actually enjoy WMV even though it was a bit long. Piper's Pit had its good points but just went on way too long. I remember when I was watching it live and hearing Ventura absolutely rip into Hogan on a great tantrum post-match. EVerything he said was true, and I remember agreeing with him and realizing how much sense he actually made even though he was a heel. Savage made Hogan look like a million bucks in this match. Also, did anyone have cooler ring gear than Savage? Cmon, how many people can look cool wearing peach colored tights and kneepads with white boots?

[King Kamala 0]

 

 

The WrestleMania V countdown show

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Cool stuff. Even though these were nothing but last-minute pushes for the show, they're fun to watch. Especially for shows I've seen countless times sans the countdown show.

 

And I don't hate the Piper's Pit. I just think it's silly that for a show that ran almost four hours, you'd let a non-wrestling segment run that long.

[strummer 0]

Like many said last week about WM IV this Mania almost defines my childhood as a wrestling fan (along with WM III).

 

I've probably seen this show more than any Mania and I can watch Hogan/Savage till the end of time.

 

This show had more built up matches than IV.

 

Hogan/Savage (obviously), Rude/Warrior, POP/Demolition, Heenan/Rooster, Jake/Andre all had solid build. There was even a token throw in build up with Hercules and Haku with the Heenan backstory

 

And I've always loved the Busters/Strike Force match because of Tito's selling, Martel's over the top acting and because the company didn't really do break up angles like that at the time (ie with no obvious build)

 

Yes there was filler but not as much as the previous year or the following year for that matter.

 

Bruce Pritchard's Piper impression is spot on and doesn't get nearly enough credit simply because a lot of smart fans hated the Brother Love gimmick.

 

The crowd was quiet but made more noise than at IV (maybe not that much more, but it was noticeable)

 

Plus the shows up to this were so good with promotion and build I almost remember them as much as the actual event.

 

That "Mega Powers Explode!" video package aired so many times it's ingrained in my memory

[DMann2003 0]

*Cue Jazzy horn music*

 

"The MEGA-POWERS...EXPLOOOOOOOODE!!! at WrestleMania V!"

 

I put together a nifty comp DVD with the preceeding Main Event program and the SNME from May of 89 (Hogan/Bossman cage, Brainbusters vs Demolition 1), along with a couple of 89 matches from one of the Best of videos, it's a great 6hr nostalgia trip

[cabbageboy 0]

Definitely a show that defined my childhood. I've always loved this show. Some may feel that it has too many matches that are filler, but at least nothing lasts so long as to be offensive. Hogan vs. Macho is a match that gets better with time, and I enjoy several of the undercard matches.

 

The one thing that pissed me off as a kid was Warrior losing. I've always hated that goofy "manager grabs the leg on the suplex" finish, and of course they always dust it off every couple years or so. And I still hate it, haha.

[Bruiser_Brody_ 0]

Right after Rockin Robin botches singing, Finkel announces Haku as "King TONGA!"

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

I loved the commentary during the Bushwackers/Rougeaus match, for the simple reason that Jesse admitted to being wrong at the end of the match... stuff like that only added to Ventura's greatness, in my opinion: it made him come across as more legitimate, as opposed to other heel commentators, like Heenan. When Ventura admitted that a heel got outwrestled or beat clean, and didn't act like it was the end of the world, it made me take him more seriously when he would bash the babyface... I loved the commentary during Warrior/Rude, as well: I agree with whomever said that the match itself was somewhat disappointing, but the commentary made that match watchable, in my opinion.

 

Plus, I know that the Heenan/Monsoon tandem is sainted around here, and I don't disagree that they were very good, but Ventura/Monsoon has always been my favorite, followed closely by Ventura/Ross.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Like many said, it's a show that defined my childhood. I've seen that and WrestleMania VI so many times. For years I thought that Hogan won his first WWF Title at this event, so that's a pretty big reason why this show is so special to me because I was a HUGE Hogan mark and I loved watching him win (what I thought was) his first World Title again and again. The only thing I remember from watching this show as a child is Hogan raising the WWF Championship belt over his head in victory. That and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's entrance.

 

WrestleMania V and WrestleMania VI go together like peanut butter and jelly for me.

Edited February 19, 2008 by Ed Wood Caulfield

[tbondrage99 0]

This is one of the first Wrestlemanias I vividly remember as a child and the first I saw live and stands up as my favorite to this day. As far as I'm concerned this card did no wrong. Sure alot of me saying that is fond memories for my favorite wrestlers of the '80s and because my grandfather talked my mom into letting me stay up and watch it despite having school in the morning. This Wrestlemania is a big part of my of my favorite nights in my life just for that alone I this Wrestlemania is my favorite.

[King Kamala 0]

Plus, I know that the Heenan/Monsoon tandem is sainted around here, and I don't disagree that they were very good, but Ventura/Monsoon has always been my favorite, followed closely by Ventura/Ross.

 

Five years ago, I would have completely disagreed with you. But after renting the first six WrestleManias on NetFlix during the buildup to last year's show, I couldn't agree with you more. I think Heenan is a very funny announcer and a good one but I think Ventura made the show seem more legitmate and was better at putting guys over whereas sometimes during undercard filler matches, Heenan just took it as an excuse to crack jokes. I still love Heenan but for my money, Ventura is the best color commentator.

[Copper Feel 0]

Nevermind.

[King Cucaracha 0]

- Pointless undercard matches: This is the show that started a brief trend of Wrestlemania matches that didn't seem to have any point other than to get as many guys on the show as possible.

 

I don't know why, but I'm a mark for that kinda stuff on the early Wrestlemanias. Matches like Koko/Martel at WM 6 and Tornado/Bravo at WM 7 say 'WrestleMania' almost as much as the actual main matches do. Of course that's mostly through nostalgia and if they did that nowadays it wouldn't be the same, but still.

[Guest Bigelow34]

Gorilla and Jesse were awesome at this show, but the highlight (at least as far as unintenionally hillarious moments go) has to be Luke rubbing one of the Rougeau's junk as he gets picked up for a scoop slam. Check it out if you have never noticed it.

[King Kamala 0]

I didn't notice it but that'd seem like more of a lowlight to me.

[Diamonddust 0]

I always get a kick out of Jesse ripping Hogan because his actual hatred for the man is so apparent in the commentary.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Wrestlemania V begins with Hercules vs. King Haku in what's pretty forgettable for an opening WM match. Luckily, it's followed up by the Rockers vs. the Twin Towers, which is a great speed vs. size match. I could even buy that the Rockers had a chance. Beefcake vs. Dibiase was lame with its double count-out finish.

 

I don't even remember anything about Bushwackers vs. Rougeaus other than the pre-match segment of the Bushwackers overeating at the WM brunch. Following is the Dream Match of the Afterlife with Mr. Perfect vs. the Blue Blazer. Very good match. Demolition then defends their titles against the Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji. What would have been a boring match ended up being fun with the added Fuji. Not to mention Fuji's pre-match attempt to show how in shape he is by "running a marathon".

 

Dino Bravo vs. Ronnie Garvin is another match I remember nothing about, even though I just watched it. Just that Garvin lost the match, cleanly I believe, and still beat the crap out of Dino Bravo's manager. Brain Busters vs. Strike Force was cool, just for the way it worked with the main event. This is the moment when Martel turned on Santana, causing Strike Force to EXPLODE!

 

There's a Piper's Pit segment featuring Brother Love in a kilt and Morton Downey Jr. I'm sure you've seen the end of this bit three times a year whenever Wrestlemania is around the corner. What's strange is that from what I read after the fact, Piper tears off Love's kilt and reveals heart-covered underwear as Love makes a run for it. They (thankfully?) cut that out of the DVD. All of the sudden, Piper just turns around and deals with Downey while Love is nowhere to be seen.

 

Jake vs. Andre was one of Andre's better matches. Late in the match, Dibiase steals Damien and shortly after, Andre attacks special guest referee Big John Studd. Andre is DQ'd for it, yet Monsoon tries to sell it like it was because of Dibiase showing up. Really funny part is when Jake goes after Dibiase. He runs up the entrance, smacks him around, takes Damien and marches back to the ring. A fan pats him on the back. Jake thinks that it's Dibiase attacking him from behind and sells the pat as if the fan just hit him with an axe-handle.

 

Hart Foundation vs. Hammer and Honky Tonk Man wasn't bad. Great ending, where the Hart Foundation, former members of Jimmy Hart's faction, steal his bullhorn and smack Honky Tonk with it while the ref isn't looking, just like the old days. Rude vs. Warrior was also pretty nice, with some excellent selling by Rude. After losing the IC title, Warrior then botched a gorilla press on Heenan and legitimately injured him.

 

Duggan vs. Bad News Brown ended in a double-DQ, but unlike the usual no-contest crap at WMs, this one made sense. It was just an excuse to have Duggan and Brown duel with weapons post-match. Then we get Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan, which is shortened immensely due to Heenan's condition after the Warrior/Rude match.

 

Hogan vs. Savage was all right for a Hogan match. Though when you get down to it, it's mostly just a Savage squash match with the Hulking Up -> Boot -> Legdrop spot added to the end. Very brutal elbow drop at the end.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Jesse: "I saw you at the casino last night walking and looking like (the Bushwhackers)."

 

Gorilla: "Walking and looking like that?"

 

Jesse: "Walking like that... too much of the joy juice, I suppose?"

 

 

 

That's probably not word for word, but not bad by memory.

[King Kamala 0]

I never got the Double DQ ending to Bad News Brown Vs Duggan as its not like they had any sort of feud after that match. Usually those types of finishes led to a Post WM house show series but I'm not seeing any matches on Cawthon's between the two. IIRC, Duggan went on to feud with Haku a bit after WrestleMania V. Why not just put Bad News Brown over cleanly?

 

 

Come to think of it. How many times did Duggan job cleanly in WWF in his most famous run with the company (87-93)? I know he did to Yokozuna and Sgt. Slaughter. I'm pretty sure he jobbed cleanly to Andre but I'm having a hard time thinking of anybody else. I don't even remember Savage beating him cleanly to win The King crown.

 

 

[cabbageboy 0]

Hell, how many times did Bad News job to anyone at all? I saw one match from SNME where he jobbed to Hogan but that's about it. This sort of thing used to annoy me about Brown, since I never thought he was worth a shit as a wrestler (maybe earlier in his career, but not in WWF) and was baffled as a kid as to why no one simply beat this guy.

 

Anyway, as far as WM VI goes...that is a show I can do without. It has a good main event with Hogan/Warrior but jack shit besides that. WM V has some really solid action on the card, whereas with WM VI I can't think of another good match on it. And Macho was utterly wasted in a goofy mixed tag with Sherri vs. Dusty/Saphire.

 

I wonder, is my ho hum reaction to WM VI due to the fact that I stopped watching wrestling by that point, and didn't start again until that SNME right before WM VIII? I have no real nostalgia for the show and no context for the various feuds, so I can judge it for what it is.

[King Kamala 0]

Bad News Brown jobbed to Savage during their house show series in late '88 and I think he jobbed to Jake on the house show circuit but you're right, he didn't job much. I always thought he was mediocre at best as a wrestler but he had a pretty decent character.

 

 

I like WrestleMania VI a little bit better than IV and V, even though wrestling-wise, it isn't much better. The atmopshere is a lot better and the show just seems paced better. Though I've only seen the Coliseum Video version, which cuts out quite a bit out of some of the filler matches.

 

I hope next week's thread isn't about WrestleMania VI as I don't think it's particularly interesting. I think generally, the worse the reputation the WrestleMania has, the more interesting it'll be to talk about.

 

 

[Diamonddust 0]

Bad News Brown jobbed to Savage during their house show series in late '88 and I think he jobbed to Jake on the house show circuit but you're right, he didn't job much. I always thought he was mediocre at best as a wrestler but he had a pretty decent character.

 

 

Back in the day, a job on TV or PPV could be very damaging due to the fact of non-guaranteed contracts. If you jobbed at a house show, the understanding was - big deal... only the local market saw it. If you jobbed on TV, you ran the risk of losing drawing power (and the payoffs as a result) throughout the country (This is basically the justification of why HTM didn't want to lose the IC title to Savage on NBC).

[Guest Nitro 24/7]

I hope next week's thread isn't about WrestleMania VI as I don't think it's particularly interesting. I think generally, the worse the reputation the WrestleMania has, the more interesting it'll be to talk about.

 

 

I hope next weeks topic is not about any Wrestlemania.

 

Hey can we have more then one "Lets talk about..." in a week? Maybe have 2-3 different topics to choose from?