User Reviews

First hour and a half are a real bore.... Matches are slow, not fun and don't really show a whole lot of talent... Still, the chemistry between the commentators is great and last matches are also great! Even if it is all an act, I can't help but to feel happy seeing Savage win the championship. Score would have been lower, but because of aforementioned reasons, I give it 7/10 and recommend it, as always, for relaxation and fun! ;)

March 27th 1988 - Atlantic City, New Jersey, Trump Plaza

Match #1 20 Man Invitational Battle Royal Winner: Bad News Brown

WWF Title Tournament Round 1 Matches 1. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase Vs "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan 2. "The Rock" Don Muraco Vs Dino Bravo 3. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine Vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat 4. "Macho Man" Randy Savage Vs "The Natural" Butch Reed 5. One Man Gang Vs Bam Bam Bigelow 6. "Ravishing" Rick Rude Vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Match #8 Ultimate Warrior Vs Hercules Winner: Warrior By Pinfall

WWF Title Tournament Round 2 Matches 9. Hulk Hogan Vs Andre The Giant 10. "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase Vs "The Rock" Don Muraco 11. "Macho Man" Randy Savage Vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

Match #12 WWF Intercontinental Championship Champ: Honky Tonk Man Vs Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake Winner: Beefcake By DQ

Match #13 Bobby "The Brain" Heenan & The Islanders Vs Koko B.Ware & The British Bulldogs Winner: Heenan & The Islanders By Pinfall

WWF Title Tournament Round 3 Match 14. "Macho Man" Randy Savage Vs One Man Gang

Match #15 Tag Team Championship Champs: Strike Force Vs Demolition Winner: Demolition By Pinfall - New Champions

MAIN EVENT WWF Championship Tournament Final "Macho Man" Randy Savage Vs "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase Winner: Savage By Pinfall - New Champion

this fourth installment of wrestlemania was one of my favorites. it is certainly better than any of the recent ones. of course i am not a big fan of wrestling these days. too many stupid story lines and it just seems to be way too outrageous. back in these days you just had your interviews and then it was straight to the ring. the matches might not have been as fast paced, but at least most of the time it ended with a real winner. i stopped watching raw years ago when the main event always ended in outside interference. it just got old watching the same show every single week. anyway #4 had some good matches, especially if your macho man fan. he is my favorite of all time. macho/valentine was a good match. so was macho/ dibiase. the battle royal was pretty good and marked bret hart's turn from bad guy to good guy. it was also the first time of three that demolition got their hands on the tag titles.(why ,oh why, did they ever have to bring in crush)? i always thought ax and smash were pretty cool. anyway if your interested in watching wrestling when it was good this is worth a look. if your more interested in the garbage thats on t.v. today then you will probably find it boring. by the way miss elizabeth dressed like a real woman should dress and she was 10x hotter than any of the sluts on today.

WrestleMania 4 thoughts

After the success of WrestleMania III, WWF/E had expectations the moment that PPV ended for the 4th annual to be as good or bigger. Taking place in Atlantic City, New Jersey in front 19,199 people in attendance. The biggest storyline at the time was the WWE Championship being vacated after controversial ending (kayfabe wise) with Andre the Giant winning the WWE Championship and selling it straight to Ted Dibiase (the million dollar man) but the on-screen president of the WWE decided to vacate the championship and hold a 14 man tournament at the biggest show of the year to crown a new champ. Sounds good on paper but did it live up to the hype? Also featuring in the show was the 20-Man Battle Royal and 2 title matches in the mid card and tag division respectively.

The Good - In terms of build up based on the storylines recap before the show, a tournament crowning was a spectacular idea. It was the first time in history of the company where a vacant title would be the prize. Randy Savage won the WWE Championship for the first time in history was a special moment for the legend and honestly Savage himself was the hardest working star of the night. Being so over to with the crowd after a spectacular match the previous year made perfect sense to put him over as the top star in the business (although original plans had Ted Dibiase win the belt). Bob Uecker also was a memorable host across the show as I got a lot of laughs of him through the PPV. A little minor storyline involving him wanting to see Vanna White was a little entertaining as well.

The Meh - Crowd wasn't bad. It was decent but they definitely were no where near as good as the previous years. At the same time I couldn't blame it all on them as the show did go on for far too long and the biggest pop was obviously going to go to Hulk Hogan and putting him out in the middle of the show was a risky thing to do as it would be nearly impossible for anything following Hogan to still feel energy. Also as good as the main event was and the excellent moment of Randy winning the title, Savage's big night did feel a little overshadowed by Hulk Hogan intervening. But it still went on good. Battle Royal was okay.

The Bad - The show was waaay too long. A tournament was a great idea but 14 men wasn't necessary. 8 men would have been much more acceptable but 14 men put too much on to one show. Like I said earlier the crowd was drained by the second half and who could blame them? Most of the matches were starting to feel repeated with screw ups by distracted referees and manager interfering. Half of the matches also were very bad due to the length of them ending very quickly with nothing barely being available to review as a highlight. By this point WWE would change this for the future though. The title matches were both overshadowed by the tournament. Demolition winning the championship titles didn't barley get a pop and Honky Tonk Man vs. Breefcake was just a simple match for comedy.

Overall - Sadly show did not deliver. It honestly is a great show compared to WrestleMania 2 but a dragged compared to 3. If only reduced length of tournament with better booking of the matches were there, it would have been a success. But the show did have a few pros such as Savage's win, Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine, and Bob Uecker.

Score 4 out of 10

0 = Terrible 1 = Bad/Lackluster 2 = Decent 3 = Good 4 = Awesome 5 = One of the best of all time

1. 20-Man Invitational Battle Royal - 1.5/5

2. Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan - 2/5

3. Dino Bravo vs. Don Muraco - 1.5/5

4. Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat - 3/5

5. Randy Savage vs. Butch - 2/5

6. One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigalow - 0/5

7. Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude - 3/5

8. Hercules vs. Ultimate Warrior - 1/5

9. Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan - 1.5/5

10. Don Muraco vs. Ted DiBiase - 2/5

11. Greg Valentine vs. Randy Savage - 1/5

12. Brutus Breefcake vs. Honky Tonk Man: Intercontinental Championship - 1/5

13. The Islanders & Bobby Heenan vs. British Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware - 0/5

14. One Man Gang vs. Randy Savage - 0/5

15. Strike Force vs. Demolition: World Tag Team Championship - 2/5

16. Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase: WWE Championship - 2/5

Best Match - Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat

Worst Match - One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigalow

Most Memorable Moment - Randy Savage title victory

Top 5 Performers 1. Randy Savage: 2. Ted DiBiase: 3. Hulk Hogan: 4. Greg Valentine: 5. Ricky Steamboat:

1. Royal Rumble 6/10

Tournament

2. Jim Duggan Vs. Ted Dibiase 4/10

3.Don Muraco Vs. Dino Bravo 5.5/10

4. Ricky Steamboat Vs. Greg Valentine - Come on Steamboat, was it necessary, to take baby with you toward the ring? What a theatrical farce :-/ 6/10

5. Butch Reed Vs. Randy Savage 6/10

6. One Man Gang Vs. Bam Bam Bigelow 5/10

7. Rick Rude Vs. Jake Roberts 6.5/10

8. Hercules Vs. The Warrior 5/10

9. Hulk Hogan Vs. Andre The Giant - Classic from these two. (and no contest) 5/10

10. Ted Dibiase Vs. Don Muraco - Wow, clean match. 6/10

11. Greg Valentine Vs. Randy Savage 5.5/10

12. Honky Tonk Man Vs. Brutus Beefcake . Ridiculous clown Beefcake 5/10

13. The British Bulldogs Vs. The Islanders/Bobby Heenan 6/10

14. OMG vs. Macho 5/10 15. The Young stallions Vs. The Demolition 6/10

16. Final Tournament Match for World Title: Macho Man Vs. Ted Dibiase - Elizabeth is really hot here! 5.5/10 Nothing special. :/

Well, not quite. But this certainly was a very impressive night in the career of "The Macho Man" as he won four matches, including the final three tournament matches of the night to win his first WWE Championship in a 14 man tournament.

This is a true PPV with literally everything built around, and leading to, the Main Event. As a huge Macho Man fan I loved every second of this show, and while he did need help from Hulkster to defeat DiBiase in the tournament final, he'd been in three matches earlier in the night so few could deny he'd earned his luck. And it kicked off the Megapowers storyline that would prove so entertaining over the next 12 months.

The first match of the night was a twenty man Battle Royal. Battle Royals are always fun and this one is won by Bad News Brown after evil shenanigans. He and Bret Hart had teamed together near the end of the match and they both eliminated Junk Yard Dog. Hart wanted to share the honours with Brown, but Brown betrayed Hart and threw him out of the ring. And so Brown was awarded a trophy, but Hart was having none of it, knocking Brown out with the trophy and with that one act going from a bad guy to a good guy. Important moment in WWE history right there.

Now, the story behind the tournament was that evil heel manager Bobby Heenan had been trying to get the WWE Title off Hogan for years without success. He did come close though when he turned Hogan's former friend Andre the Giant against him and managed Andre in a match with Hogan at Wrestlemania 3. Heenan then joined forces with the rich and evil Ted DiBiase and using Heenan's human resources and DiBIase's money they were finally able to get the title off Hogan and onto Andre. But Ted went too far arranging with Andre to forfeit the title to him. WWE President Jack Tunney stepped in and vacated the title putting it up for grabs in a 14 man tournament. Hogan and Andre drew a first round bye.

Now comes the first round of the tournament to determine new WWE Champion. Ted DiBIase defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan with help from Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo got himself disqualified to lose to Don Maruco, Greg Valentine defeated Ricky Steamboat in the best of the first round matches, Randy Savage took care of Butch Reed and One Man Gang defeated Bam Bam Bigelow by countout due to shenanigans with evil managers, and in an important result Jake Roberts and Rick RUde battled to a ten minute draw, eliminating both.

In our next, short, match The Ultimate Warrior made his Wrestlemania debut, and squeaked past Hercules. In the time honoured spot of the ref counting with both wrestlers shoulder on the mat, but the hero having the strength to lift his shoulder just in time. Hercules manager Heenan was not happy.

Next came the Quarterfinals, the first of which saw Hogan taking on the man who'd beaten him for the title a couple of months earlier Andre the Giant, and they were both disqualified after hitting each other with chairs. Hulkamania was dead and he was out of the title race. Eliminated by the perfect plan between evil manager Bobby Heenan and the maniacal Million Dollar man Ted DiBiase. Dibiase defeated Dan Muraco, despite Muraco having the help of Superstar Billy Graham and so earned a bye straight into the tournament final. Randy Savage defeated Greg Valentine in a decent match and would face One Man Gang for a spot in the final after the Roberts/ Rude count out had given OMG a bye.

The night stalled with Honky Tonk Man getting himself disqualified against Brutus Beefcake to retain the Intercontionental Title and THe Islanders and Bobby Heenan winning a six man tag match against the British Bulldogs and Koko B Ware.

One Man Gang got himself disqualified in the tournament semi final after hitting Savage with a cane. Could Randy Possibly beat a rested DIBIase after that beating? First we had to see Demolition Axe and Smash defeat Strike Force Rick Martel and Tito Santana to win the WWE Tag Team Championships.

And finally came the moment everyone had waited all night for as Randy Savage capitalised on a chair shot from Hulk Hogan to hit the Flying Elbow on Ted DiBIase and win the WWE Championship. Hogan and Savage celebrated the victory together. The Mega powers had beaten the MIllion Dollar Plan and saved the WWE from the evil DiBiase.

Don't try to rate this, Just strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. Awesome PPV.

Wrestlemania 4 is one of the best Wrestlemania's ever. It started with a big Battle Royal that started The Hitman's "face" lift, and ended with a NEW WWF world champion! I don't know about the single cassette video that's out now, but I have the original 2-cassette VHS event and it just plain rules! The only negative side of this event, I thought the Bob Ueker story about him finding Vanna White throughout the event was very lame. Another lame moment was that Ricky Steamboat dedicated the match to his son & lost! It wasn't only lame, but it was sad. I don't care if it's fake, but what an evil thing to do. I saw no point in that segment. The Hogan match was o.k., it wasn't near as good as the Hogan match in Wrest