Wrestlemania 8

Wrestlemania 8 was going to have a main event “dream match” of Ric Flair Vs Hulk Hogan for the WWF title, but controversy did not stop for the WWF. After last year’s Wrestlemania brought on the first death threats, leading into Wrestlemania 8 WWF gets accused of massive Steroid use. One of the main wrestlers on trial; Hulk Hogan had to testify to using steroids, and WWF would have a nation-wide court-case on their hands. Vince McMahon had no other choice but to change the main event match. After the court-case McMahon wanted to focus the attention on guys that didn’t look like they had been taking steroids, so a storyline was created to lead to a championship match between Flair and The “Macho Man” Randy Savage. It would be two years till wrestling fans finally see Flair and Hogan wrestle and it’s not even for the same company. WCW from Atlanta, Georgia, was now competition for the WWF and would begin to buy up all of the WWF’s talent. Ric Flair had come from WCW and every fan wanted to see him face Hogan, but instead this debacle happens, and Wrestlemania 8 almost becomes a flop of a PPV.



Wrestlemania 8 came from Indianapolis, Indiana from their Hoosier Dome. April 5, 1992 saw Bret “The Hitman” Hart become Intercontinental champion, we see an old master manipulator fall to a new one, and Randy Savage win the WWF title for the 3rd time. Not too many celebrities were on hand for this event, but Reba McEntire welcomed us with her rendition of “America the Beautiful”. Let me now tell you about the next chapter in the legendary book of the Hitman; Bret Hart.

Since 1986, Bret Hart had been wrestling as a tag team wrestler, but those times were soon put behind him. Bret Hart had won the tag team titles, so now he wanted a singles belt. Bret Hart had already won the Intercontinental championship once but his title reign wasn't memorable. This match would be the second time going for this championship, but this time without his tag team partner in his corner. The “Hot Rod” Roddy Piper was Intercontinental Champion, and Hart set his sights on winning the middle-weight championship back. The Intercontinental championship had lead to the rise of The “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and now it would be the next stepping stone for the Hitman. Wrestlemania would be a passing of the torch for Hart, as this would be the last Wrestlemania Piper would wrestle for the company. “The Excellence of Execution” showed why he was truly the best at the time, showing his technical mastery and his ring general mentality. Hart would go on to beat Piper and reclaim the Intercontinental championship; this time leading to a feature WWF championship match. Hart goes on to headline the next Wrestlemania, but I’ll keep that for the next post, for now let’s just witness the beginnings of the "'Best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be".



In the next match I will talk about the next victim of The Undertaker’s Wrestlemania undefeated streak. For years the fans and superstars feared Jake “The Snake” Robert’s pet python Damian, but now the WWF had a new threat; The Undertaker. A few months back, Undertaker would play a major role in Ric Flair winning the WWF title; by giving his finisher "The Tombstone" to Hulk Hogan and putting the first “nail in the coffin” on Hulkamania. Later a match would be held to determine a new WWF champion, that person would be Ric Flair; which would lead to our changed WWF championship match. The Undertaker however had his sights set on domination; target: Roberts. The Undertaker would sit-up from two of Robert’s devastating DDTs, but would eventually tombstone Jake “The Snake” and receive another notch on his forming Wrestlemania streak. Robert’s days of scarring the WWF fan-base and it’s wrestlers was over, now there was a new darkness overhead; “The Deadman” The Undertaker.



Then we have the catastrophe that was the WWF championship match, between Ric Flair and The “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Aforementioned this title match was supposed to be the main event and a professional wrestling “dream match”, but instead we get a (first time ever) mid-card WWF championship match that would see Savage regain the title for the 3rd time. Nobody saw this coming, as everyone thought Hulk Hogan would face Ric Flair at the next big PPV; SummerSlam. Ric Flair would never end up facing Hogan until they finally meet in WCW, and would leave the WWF after only a year of being there. This title win would be the last for Randy Savage, as he later goes on to become a WWF commentator; than leaves the company for WCW. This match had no hype, and was a big let-down from the match expected, but to see Savage win was a surprise no-one saw coming. My final words for Wrestlemania 8; Welcome the “Pink and Black Attack”.

Wrestlemania 7

Wrestlemania 7 was the first event to have to move locations because of death threats put out on the WWF (WWE)for Slaughter. In the 80’s, Sgt. Slaughter symbolized America in professional wrestling; he was even in the cartoon T.V. show G.I. J.O.E. Since the beginning of the 90’s, Hulk Hogan was all that symbolized America, and SGT. Slaughter would turn his back on America and became an Iraqi sympathizer. This caused chaos in the WWF because Slaughter had always stood for what was good and now he had become a turncoat. The WWF was to hold Wrestlemania 7 at The Memorial Coliseum; but aforementioned they had to move the event to the Memorial Sports Arena because of a massive amount of death treats for the turncoat Slaughter. Now those within the company say it was because of low ticket sales, but this is still a good attention grabber. Once it was decided to move the event, everything else was set and ready to go.



So coming from Los Angeles, California; on March 24, 1991 is the controversial Wrestlemania 7. Wrestlemania 7 saw the beginning of the end of the tag team of the Hart Foundation; the first victim of the infamous Deadman Streak, and Hulk Hogan and America conquering Slaughter and Iraq. Wrestlemania 7 of course had Howard Finkel as ring announcer, but for the main event Alex Trebek of Jeopardy introduced Hogan and Slaughter. Wrestlemania 7 was also the first PPV to not feature Jesse “The Body” Ventura on commentary, but was instead replaced with “The Brain” Bobby Heenan; The leader of the Heenan Family. During the main event, Regis Philbin joined Gorilla Monsoon and Heenan on commentary. The opening of the show saw country legend Willie Nelson sing our national anthem; “America the Beautiful”.


The first match I would like to talk to you about is for the WWF tag team championships. This match featured a new tag team of The Nasty Boys, going up against the champions; The Hart Foundation. Bret “The Hitman” Hart, was on a slow rise to the top. Hart had become tag team champion, but that would be just the beginnings of his legendary career. The Hart Foundation would lose this match to the Nasty Boys; and lose their titles as well. After Wrestlemania 7, The Hart Foundation would spilt-up; Jim “ The Anvil” Neidhart would disappear from wrestling for a little while, while The Hitman would go on to excel in singles competition. We will see more of Bret Hart as the years progress, but Wrestlemania 7 would be the end of the tag team of The Hart Foundation.

From Death Valley, weighting in at over 300lbs and standing almost seven feet tall, the next match I would like to talk to you about is the emergence of “The Deadman”; The Undertaker. For twenty-six years now The Undertaker has created mass destruction for his victims. The Undertaker is known for is 18-0 Wrestlemania streak, as well as being an innovator of the Casket Match, The Boiler Room Brawl, and The Buried Alive Match. The Undertaker will surely be a feature WWE Hall of Famer, but this was the beginning. The Undertaker’s opponent was “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka; before there was the Hardy Boyz or HBK, there was Jimmy Snuka. Snuka would leap off of cages and wrestle bear-footed, he was a good friend of Hogan’s and was also in his corner at Wrestlemania 1. Snuka was on his game in the 80’s. but as the 90’s came around new high fliers were arising and Snuka was becoming obsolete. The Undertaker saw this as his way to make his mark; take Snuka out of his misery. The Undertaker would beat Snuka with his finisher: The Tombstone, and the first of 18 victims would fall at the hands of The Undertaker.



Finally we have the main event between champion; Slaughter and challenger Hulk Hogan. This will be the sixth Wrestlemania Hogan headlines, and becomes WWF champion for the 3rd time. After Wrestlemania 6, The Ultimate Warrior would lose his title to Slaughter; who by then had turned into a heel and turned his back on America. Hogan had been gone from the scene; filming his movie “Suburban Commando”, and would come back to stand up for America. America was in the middle of the Gulf War Crisis and what better than for Vince McMahon to make a storyline out of it. A lot of heat was put on the shoulders of Sgt. Slaughter, and the Hulkster would rally all of the WWF fans behind him for this match. The integrity of America was on the line, in the eyes of Hogan, and if he lost so did America. This match was one of the best built-up matches of the 90’s and showed the turn towards Face Vs Heel main events. The end of the match saw Slaughter try to disgrace Hogan by placing the Iraqi flag over his body and try to go for the pin-fall. By now WWF fans had been used to Hogan’s ideology inside the ring and knew what was coming next; Hogan would Hulk-up and hit the “Big Boot” and pin Slaughter to become the new WWF Champion. Hogan had stood up for all that was good and just in this world and defeated the enemy. Wrestlemania 7 would be the beginning of the end for Hulkamania, but for now Wrestlemania 7 was “Stars and Stripes Forever