Wrestlemania 4

Wrestlemania 4 witnessed the first ever tournament to crown a new WWE champion. In the months leading up to the PPV, Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant had been feuding; this feud was continued from Hogan body slamming Andre at the previous year’s Wrestlemania. At a new PPV called The Royal Rumble, a contract was signed to give Andre a rematch for the WWE title. On what would be an early version of Monday Night Raw, Hogan and Andre had their match on Saturday Night’s Main Event . At the time a new referee was fresh on the scene, his name; Earl Hebner. At this point in time nobody knew that Earl had a twin brother named Dave. In Hogan and Andre’s match, Earl got knocked out, and from under the ring came his brother Dave; the only problem was that Dave was paid off by “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase to ensure Andre’s title win. After only 47 seconds, Andre gives the title to Dibiase for a huge lump sum of money and “ The Million Dollar Man” becomes the new heavyweight champion. Jack Tunney, who was the president of WWE at the time, stripped Dibiase of the title and vacated it. Tunney then decided to hold a 14 man elimination tournament for the vacated championship at Wrestlemania 4.

March 27, 1988 was the date and The Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey was the place. Fourteen of , at the time, The World Wrestling Federation’s greatest superstars of the 80’s faced off in seven one-on-one matches. The winners of those matches would face each other and so on until two men were left standing. Andre being the former champion and Hogan being the champion who never got a rematch were both in this tournament; already in the Quarterfinals. The stripped champion, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase would face “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Dibiase would beat Duggan and advance to the Quarterfinals with Andre and Hogan. Thanks to double chair shots to one another, Hogan and Andre were both disqualified. Dibiase would beat his next opponent and receive a bye because of the dual disqualification. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase’s future was looking golden at Wrestlemania 4 going into the finals for the WWF (WWE) title.



Another rising star in WWF was “The Macho Man” Randy Savage. At last year's Wrestlemania he lost his intercontinental championship to Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. So Savage was looking to make himself a heavyweight contender and a main event caliber entertainer. Savage first fights a non name named Butch Reed, then goes on to face Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and beats him with the Macho elbow off the top rope. Savage would then go on to the finals and win by Disqualification when One Man Gang ’s manager Slick gives him his walking cane to use on “The Macho Man”; the referee would see this and Savage would advance to the finals to meet “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase for the vacated WWF title. The “Macho Madness” begins.


Now as a wrestling fanatic it would be asinine for me not to include these little pieces of information. One; Howard Finkel was there as ring announcer. Second; Gladys Knight began the show with American the Beautiful. Other than that, there were no celebrities at this show. So not only does this event give us our first match to end as a DQ (disqualification) but it’s also the first Wrestlemania to focus only on it’s wrestlers and no celebrities. Speaking of which, Wrestlemania 4 is the debut of a new promising superstar The Ultimate Warrior.

The Warrior’s debut was amazing for a wrestling fan. The Warrior broke and ripped a metal chain necklace off his opponent's neck before the match. During the match, any offense Hercules tried to give the Warrior had no effect. Finally Hercules goes for an Inverted Full Nealson Suplex, as both man come down their shoulders are on the mat, and at the last second The Warrior gets his up before Hercules and shows the beginnings of this , then thought of, unstoppable force. As the years progress we will read the rise and downfall of The Ultimate Warrior.



Finally we have our main event for the vacated WWF championship. “ The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase Vs. “ The Macho Man” Randy Savage. Although Dibiase bought the title from Andre, he was stripped of it and had it removed from his win/loss record. So, both men were coming into this match never being heavyweight champion. Savage had just fought One Man Gang, so he was extremely exhausted. Dibiase on the other hand, had a bye; so he was able to dominate most of this match. When Savage finally begins to mount some offense he goes for his finisher The Macho Elbow, but Dibiase rolls out of the way. Dibiase then applies his finisher; “The Million Dollar Dream” as Savage begins to be beaten down by fatigue. Andre the Giant interferes in this match, as well as Hulk Hogan. In the end, a distracted referee misses a chair shot to the head of Dibiase from Hogan, and Savage climbs to the top tope again; this time nailing his maneuver and gets the victory. We have a new, and for the first time, WWF champion; “ The Macho Man” Randy Savage. Savage celebrates his win with Hulk Hogan and his, then, wife Miss. Elisabeth. The end of this PPV would be the beginning of Wrestlemania 5’s Story, but we’ll keep that for the next post; let’s now just enjoy the spreading of the “Macho Madness”.