WrestleMania V
“The Mega-Powers Explode!”
and
“At least we aren’t WrestleMania IV”
Even though we’re back in the same place as last year – Atlantic City – the crowd seems immediately better. It also seems like more people are in the crowd even though both shows sold out. Maybe it just seems that way because this crowd is alive. For now.
“She better keep her day job is all I got to say.” – Jesse Ventura on Rockin’ Robin’s “singing.”
Hey, at least she got to be on the card!
WWE Women’s Champion, Rockin’ Robin opens the show with “America the Beautiful,” which has become accustomed. This is unfortunately the worst rendition of the song. I’m not going to rate it out of respect of her attempt to sing it. Still, the crowd cheered for this louder than 90 percent of the card last year. There’s reason to believe that real wrestling fans found their way to AC this year.
“King” Haku w/Bobby Heenan vs. Hercules
Haku comes to the ring to Jerry Lawler’s music. Heenan tells the crowd to bow to the King, which gets the crowd booing. Hercules – in a face role I had forgotten about – gets a good pop. I guess the background of this match was that Heenan kicked Hercules out of the Heenan family.
Woah Woah Woah! Gorilla calls what Haku does to start the match a “sneak attack” and not a “Pearl Harbor job.” (RIP WM 1-WM 5)…….Ahhhh, wait. I announced the death of that saying a bit premature, as Gorilla says he tried the “Pearl Harbor thing," just seconds after me bidding it adieu.
Hercules goes after Heenan outside of the ring for about 30 seconds, forgetting that Haku was never really that hurt to begin with. Haku lands a clothesline and takes the action back into the ring.
Haku locks in a bear hug after a shoulder breaker. I can’t imagine these guys are tired yet. If anything it gives us the “Hercules is so strong he can break a bear hug,” spot.
Herc lands some clotheslines, but they aren’t as stiff as past ones we’ve seen during his WrestleMania career. Lightening up a bit on clotheslines vs. Haku probably wasn’t a bad idea given his past tough guy stories.
Interesting finish, as it nearly mirrored how Hercules lost to Warrior last year – a bridge where he got his shoulders up at the last second while Haku’s remained down. This wasn’t bad, 2 stars.
Gene Mean interviews The Rockers backstage, HBK’s first WrestleMania.
The Rockers vs. The Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Boss Man) w/Slick
You can argue this match could have went on first because the crowd enjoys the Rockers flying around the ring, but they were pretty hot for the first match, to be fair.
One Man Gang looks a little different than last year, where he was only one round away for wrestling for the championship.
Gorilla acknowledges that Ventura was once a tag-team champion. What’s interesting about that is that he never won a title in the WWF, but did in the AWA and NWA territories. I didn’t think Vince thought people existed outside of WWF in these years, though I do seem to recall they mentioned past championships at maybe WrestleMania 1.
Jesse was always great in matches like this. What would seem pretty obvious, but obviously not in today’s world because we get nothing explained to us by announcers accept how to Tweet and download Apps, he explains to us how The Rockers will need to use their speed to win this match, and hope to get it into deep waters to where the big guys will tire. Additionally, if they get caught by the big guys, then it’s over.
Speaking of big guys, Andre the Giant pretty much liked everyone in any locker room he was ever in, but the Rockers made his short list of those he did not. He thought of them as party animals with not much respect for the sport. According to what you read and hear about this time, Andre was right about that.
Akeem the Gang goes for a squash in the corner, but Michaels is able to move out of the corner about six seconds before he gets there. Gorilla is nice and says Akeem was “about a half second late there.” Yes, 12 half seconds late.
Akeem makes a tag to Boss Man that Marty doesn’t see. As he leapfrogs over Akeem he is caught by Big Boss Man. Akeem then comes off the ropes to squash Jannetty. That was really in impressive way to turn the tide.
Akeem reminds me a little of McLovin.
Both the big guys continue to find ways to use their weight to their advantage, including a double avalanche. Marty tags HBK after sneaking away from one of the fat attacks. They execute a double shoulder block on Akeem knocking him down, which gets a 2 count. After this, Akeem about takes off Shawn’s head with a clothesline that sends the crowd into “ooohhs and aahhs.”
I really thought that match was over, but Big Boss Man misses a squash off the top. The Rockers go for a double-drop kick off the rope but only one of them lands. After another 2 count, Shawn goes to the top but is caught by Big Boss Man and powerbombed, another cool move. Akeem gets the tag, does a squash, and that’s that.
That was a legit fun match with quite a few cool spots that the crowd (and myself) were surprised to see. One of the better tag matches we’ve seen from Mania so far – 3 fun stars.
The Million Dollar Man w/Virgil vs. Brutus Beefcake
Ted DiBiase has gained the Million Dollar Belt between now and last Mania. I watched a clip on the network about the jeweler who made the belt, which was pretty cool. I think they said it was worth $40,000. He is not defending the belt in this match.
Beefcake gets the hot start in this match after starting things off with a cheap shot, as noted by Ventura. DiBiase regroups outside of the ring, but after a few chops, Beefcake takes control again, eventually sending Ted back out with a clothesline over the top rope. Back in the ring, DiBiase takes control after Virgil grabs Beefcake’s leg.
Just read a Q and A with DiBiase on Reddit where he said his favorite opponent was Hogan because he made the most money with him (appropriate). However he named a bunch of other guys he liked working with, Beefcake wasn't on that list.
This year the Million Dollar Dream is named, and Ted plants it on Beefcake here for a few seconds before Beefcake gets the break by getting to the ropes. Shortly after this, Beefcake takes control and slaps on the Sleeper. He only keeps it on a beat or two before Virgil distracts him. Beefcake ends up on the outside of the ring going after Virgil. DiBiase sneaks up from behind him. I guess Beefcake wasn't watching the first match of the night when Hercules was distracted by Heenan. This one ends pretty abruptly when they are both counted out while landing punches on each other. Just when I was thinking that there haven’t been any stupid finishes yet. 1.25 Stars for starting off well.
After the match, Beefcake beats up Virgil up a bit, but as Ventura mentions, there, "Won’t be no cutting of his hair." DiBiase comes back in the ring and gets hit by Brutus for his troubles. While Beefcake goes to the outside of the ring to get his giant weapon/sheers, Ted and Virgil escape to the back.
The Sheepwhackers (Butch and Luke) vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond)
Legend suggests that in a world far away (NWA, and the like) that the Bushwhackers were a successful and serious tag team. In WWF they were a comedy bit, but a bit the fans loved. To be fair, I think they even won the tag titles in my highly competitive wrestling figure federation, but I think it was when I was low on figures and they were my only tag team. When I bought the Legion of Doom…well forget about it. For the record, my longest reigning heavyweight champion of all-time was…Virgil. True Story. Don’t ask me why, I wasn’t a huge Virgil fan. I truly don’t know why.
As mentioned in a previous wrap-up, The Fabulous Rougeau brothers were underrated in my book. Well, I don’t know if “underrated” is the right word, but I suppose I liked them better than most.
The Rougeau’s are beating up the Bushwhackers most of the match, which is probably for the better, as Jesse pointed out that he’s never seen the Whackers do a wrestling move. Eventually one of the brothers poses for the crowd after doing a tag team move. The Bushwhackers land a battering ram and a double gut wrencher (a pretty cool wrestling move, actually) and get the win. Wiki says this match ran for 9:10 but on the Network it was really only 3 minutes, or so. Did they edit this, or what it a mistake on Wiki? We may never know. 1.18 star.
Mr. Perfect vs. Blue Blazer (Owen Hart)
Now of all the things I could remember of this PPV, which were quite a few, the moment I’m about to share is oddly enough the thing I think of the most when I think of Wrestlemania V. (not really, but sort of)
Mr. Perfect is announced to the ring (no music, yet). In this venue, the wrestlers walk down about seven or eight steps when they start the walk down the aisle. Closer to the ring there was one little random step. Well, Mr. Perfect didn’t see that one. At the 51 minute mark exactly, he takes a very awkward step on said random step. I thought it was the funniest thing when I was an eight year old that a guy named Mr. Perfect just tripped on a step. Curt himself may have agreed with me, as a step or two after knowing he isn’t going to fall anymore he gives the tiniest grin. It had to be hard enough being a guy named Mr. Perfect without having to worry about sniper steps. I mean looking back on it it’s sort of dumb that I think it’s so funny, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I rewound it a couple (or few) times on this viewing.
Mr. Perfect doesn’t have a ring entrance yet, but Blue Blazer certainly does. During his entrance I see that right after that sneaky step they changed the carpet to red, presumably for a reminder to the wrestlers it was coming.
LKJ did a write-up of this match in his excellent career retrospectives of Owen and Curt. In short, it’s a great, fun, short little match. The baseball slide by Owen is particularly impressive. If the crowd wasn’t planning on cheering for Owen before the match, they certainly were just a minute or so in. He really works Perfect good here, doing a number of moves that brings reactions from the crowd. His momentary downfall came when he went for a top rope splash, but came crashing down on the knees of Perfect.
Owen retakes the advantage after a chinlock from Perfect, and lands a beautifuly belly-to-belly suplex and a grapevine rollup. After a very near fall on the pin attempt, Blazer argues with the ref and Mr. Perfect responds by landing a massive forearm on Blazer. One Perfect-Plex later and Perfect gets the win, remembering the step on the way back. 3 stars. They did a lot of cool things in the few minutes they had.
Jesse Ventura poses for the crowd after the match, which the crowd once again loves, just like last year. I’m talking top five – or so – pops of the night.
Next we get footage of Mr. Fuji cheating during a WrestleMania 5k on the boardwalk.
After that we get Run DMC performing the WrestleMania V rap from inside the squared circle. A few people in the crowd seem into this. They honestly don’t say anything but a few rap clichés and the word WrestleMania in a few different ways. After that they sing what I thought was a different song but I guess it was a continuation of the song they started with. At the end, one of them says “Believe That.”
Tag Team Title Handicap Match - Demolition (c) (Ax and Smash) vs. Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian) w/ Mr. Fuji
At Survivor Series, Demolition turned face when Mr. Fuji turned on them and aligned himself with The Powers of Pain. Demolition should have grown skeptical when they presumably noticed their manager was wearing the same kind of face paint design as their opponents, but alas, they did not. The crowds were pretty heavily already cheering for Demolition as it was, so this turn made sense.
Demolition won the titles at last year’s WrestleMania and (spoiler alert) would go on to hold them for another 100 days and change before losing them to the BrainBusters. It’s the longest tag-team title reign in WWF/E history, which I would have never guessed without looking up.
Music botch here, when they start Demolition’s theme before Mr. Fuji is introduced.
Demoliton take control early, making numerous tags. Eventually Warlord gets Smash into the corner where they have their way with him for a second, but it really was only a second, as Demolition quickly takes control again, this time on Barbarian.
A few years from now Barbarian would be one of the challengers for Ron Simmons, while Simmons held the WCW Title. His build-up must have been pretty good because as a kid I legit thought that Barbarian would win. Years after his runs in WWF and WCW my dad had a co-worker who was an independent wrestler that wrestled with Barbarian and said he was a real cool guy and was happy to have a job.
Mr. Fuji gets in – a former tag-team champ in his own right – and lands a karate chop to Ax’s back, a chop across the chest, and a headbutt to his “lower abdominal area.” Fuji gets back in after some impressive offense from the Powers of Pain, but this time misses a leg drop off the ropes.
Smash gets the hot tag, slams and clotheslines all around, which the crowd enjoys. Despite being faces, Demolition lands a double team slingshot, which seems like a pretty heel move, but it’s still cool.
Sigh, the ending you could see coming from a mile down the boardwalk. Mr. Fuji tries to throw salt into the eyes of Smash while he is being held by Warlord. Smash - to the surprise of nobody - gets out of the way. Smash lands a pretty gentle clothesline on Mr. Fuji and then they do their elbow off the second rope while the other guy holds them on his knee move for the win. I liked this for a couple minutes, but didn’t like the ending. 2 Hollywood Ron Starr’s
Backstage, Tony Schiavone tries to interview Macho Man, who is going irate in his locker room. As a kid I thought this was all an act – and maybe this particular segment is – but I just recently learned about how angry and jealous with rage that Savage really was at this time that it makes me look at this whole thing differently. More on that later.
Dino Bravo w/Frenchy Martin vs. “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin
Neither of these competitors ever did anything for me. As a kid, this was a fast-forward match for sure. But because I have some silly goal not to fast-forward anything – maybe so I can say one day I’ve seen every match of WrestleMania history – I battle through.
Before this match, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka gets introduced to the crowd. I guess he was returning after being gone for a while.
Garvin can’t decide where in the crowd to throw his towel, and Bravo takes advantage by attacking him from behind. Garvin eventually takes over. He tries to give Bravo the ten headbutts to the top turnbuckle but he only gets to six, which was his choice. It took about 35 seconds for him to get to six, so it was probably for the better.
Bravo lands a reverse atomic drop when Garvin was about to give Bravo a ten-count (or, six) of fists, but we know that would have taken more time than we had so thankfully Bravo did the drop, then his sideslam finisher, and that was it.
After the match, Garvin gives Bravo a forearm to the back of the head and then appears to geniuenly punch Frenchy Martin right in the face before Martin could hit him with the flag of Quebec. Honestly. Garvin then does the stomp that Randy Orton has grown fond of, for some reason.
The Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson) w/Bobby Heenan vs. Strike Force (Tito Santana and Rick Martel)
At the time, the acquisition of Anderson and Blanchard was huge, as it broke up the Four Horseman over in WCW.
I immediately remembered this match as the one when Strike Force broke up, with Martel going heel to concentrate on a line of cologne. The problem with this break-up is that I feel it took forever to actually go through with (Star and Golddust anyone?) that it was just so obvious it was going to happen it provided very little shock.
Double figure-four leg locks by Strike Force were eventually broken up and the Busters would gain control. Blanchard attempts to give Santana an atomic drop, but Santana gets a tag in, which the ref doesn’t see. However, during the confusion, Santana goes for his flying forearm, Tully ducks, and Santana nails Martel. Martel eventually makes his way back into the corner while the Busters do a number on Santana. Tito gets close to attempting a tag a few times but unfortunately his offense comes in the corner of the Brainbusters so they are always able to get a tag.
These top rope attempts by the bad guys, only to be met by a slam by the good guys, are pretty horrible spots. Arn climbs to the top, and it’s hard to tell what he even had in mind once he got up there other than waiting for Tito to slam him. This one was almost as bad at Butch Reed doing it against Savage last year.
Martel ignores Tito’s tag attempts. Tully does a great job here keeping an eye on Martel, making sure it’s not some kind of ploy. Martel jumps off the canvas and leaves Tito to fend for himself. Arn lands a Spinebuster and tags Tully. Tito attempts a short comeback, but it doesn’t last long. A spike piledriver ends this thing. Despite knowing the break-up was coming, and a nitpick or two, I like this match, manly because I’m a Brain Busters fan, and they really shine here. 2.75 Stars.
Backstage Gene Mean is really upset at Martel for what he did for Santana. “Strike Force was supposed to be A TEAM! A TEAM!”
Now, to be fair there are parts of 8-10 WrestleMania’s I haven’t seen. With that, I would bet the next segment is easily one of the top three worst segments in WrestleMania history, and arguably in wrestling history, period.
I didn’t know who Morton Downey Jr. was before I first saw this segment back when the Network started. From what I gathered from my research is that he was a shock jock that made fun of people who said smoking was bad for you that eventually died from lung cancer. To be invited to WrestleMania, I suppose he was a little more famous than that, but that’s my take on it.
Fink announces Roddy Piper to the ring, but it’s Brother Love dressed up as Roddy Piper, more or less. Brother Love then pretends he is Roddy Piper being interviewed by Brother Love. Brother Love does a decent impersonation of Piper but the crowd was lost as soon as this segment started.
Morton Downey Jr is invited to the ring and he runs down to it, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Morton insults Love a few times, which the crowd likes. Fink then introduces the real Piper. I mean this thing is unbelievably bad by any standards.
We now have Piper, Downey, and Love in the ring. The crowd is hoping Piper saves this thing. Piper says Love has nice child bearing hips and Betty Davis knees and suggests the Oprah Winfrey diet for him. In the meantime Downey has his back to this conversation, smoking. The whole time this is going on Piper has a finger in his ear, scratching and pulling at it. Morton is throwing cigs in their direction and Piper gets one in the head and turns to look at Morton for a second before continuing his talk with Love, asking if he’s ever been in a fight before.
The next part is interesting to me, if only because I’ve wondered if Piper was really getting pissed. Morton blows smoke directly in his face, and Piper legit doesn’t seem to like it, but continues with whatever the hell he was talking about. Morton insults Piper by way of a “your mother” joke, and Piper scowls. The crowd is beyond dead by now. Piper is still scratching at his ear. They continue to insult each other, including Downey blowing more smoke in Piper’s face. Morton eventually calls Piper a transvestite. Downey blows smoke in Piper’s face for the 5th time, while telling him how healthy it is for him. Piper asks Downey to light him one. While he does it, Piper gets a fire extinguisher from underneath a table that was in the ring. When Downey turns around, Piper blasts it in his face. When Downey falls to the mat – face down – Piper blows the extinguisher up his ass (I don’t really know how else to put this, and yes this all happened). Piper leaves the ring to his theme music, and that concludes the worst segment I’ve ever seen. It’s so cringe worthy. That segment, including the replays, went longer than any match on the card.
In the back, Gene tells us that Hulk Hogan is going to be in a new movie, and we get a preview of No Holds Barred. It’s really time I give this movie another viewing soon. Speaking of cringe worthy. Didn’t WWE get like six months of main events out of Hulk vs. Tiny matches? Or at least teased it for that long?
Sean Mooney interviews Donald Trump’s hair. Mooney legit seems nervous, and fumbles over some of his words during this short interview.
Back in the booth, Jesse Ventura is very angry that he found out Hulk Hogan is making a movie, and in turn, invading his Hollywood territory.
Next we get to see the history of the Mega-Powers and how they eventually exploded. What I really noticed about this is that Macho Man didn’t defend his title on any of the big PPV’s between the 4th and 5th WrestleMania. He apparently made good money defending his title at house shows – which was still big business – but I can’t help but think he would have liked to defend his title at one of the big four (as it was at the time). Then again, they set up an angle for a full year, which led us to one of the best feuds in history. Meh. What do I know?
Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan backstage. Hogan blames the break-up on Macho Man while breathing heavily. I make jokes, but it really is a pretty good promo. Even if he was creepy in terms of his relationship with Miss Elizabeth.
Between the final bell in the last match, and the start of the match below, we went nearly 40 minutes. That. Was. Rough.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. Andre the Giant w/Bobby Heenan
I reference an Andre the Giant book in my last write-up. In it they referenced that Andre held onto Heenan on the way to the ring at this point of his career because it took a lot for him just to walk to the ring. Giant does walk towards Studd on his own and has some words with him, but is back to leaning in the corner while waiting for Giant to get to the ring. However, while standing in that corner he had removed the turnbuckle pad, which he rams Snake into to start the match.
Great line by Ventura after being asked by Gorilla if he’s ever heard of David vs. Goliath – “Yeah, and he used a foreign object, too.” Haha!
Jake’s whole gameplan here is to get to Damian the snake whenever he is able to break free, which hasn’t been much. Andre's in full control here, using an array of “leverage moves.”
Jake gets his comeback and Andre gets stuck in the ropes, which he had a tendency to do, I'm learning. Giant gets an arm free and wraps his giant hand around the neck in a choke hold. Andre remains in control for a couple of minutes. After a shoulder block in the corner, Andre acts as if he’s been hit. Jesse calls it a short knee, but I think Andre was a move behind, as the very next thing Jake does is gives Andre a short knee. To be fair there haven’t been nearly as many botches at this Mania, and I’m not 100 percent sure this was a botch, but I am pretty sure.
Andre now gets rammed into the padless turnbuckle, but regains control with a punch to Jake’s gut and a chop which sends Jake outside of the ring. Jake tries to get into the ring a couple of times but Andre doesn’t allow it. Studd doesn’t like this, so the two jaw in the ring. In the meantime, Jake gets the bag Damian is in. Giant and Studd exchange some blows. From the back, DiBiase comes and steals the bag of snake. In the ring Giant is choking out Studd. Snake gets his snake back from Ted and throws it into the ring, which clears the ring of Andre. The official result is Jake “The Snake” Roberts by DQ. This wasn’t good, but I’ve seen worse and Andre was doing the best he could, which was pretty decent. 1.75 Stars.
Mooney interviews a fan up in the nosebleeds “Jake’s the best. He’s the best. He’s the best.”
Tony Schiavone interviews Sensational Sherri in the back. I don’t know if you call her a diva, or what, but she is probably one of my favorite female characters of all-time. My teenage self certainly appreciated some of the outfits she wore with HBK.
Rhythm and Blues (Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine) w/Jimmy Hart vs. Hart Foundation
Valentine has won my most underappreciated award through the first five WrestleMania’s, only because he was better than I ever thought he was. He’s held his own against wrestlers that go down in history as much better than him, which should stand for something.
As mentioned in my last write-up. The Hart Foundation have turned face because Hart was getting more fan mail as a heel than anyone else on the roster, including Hogan.
Hammer and Honky Tonk take control after a hot start from the foundation. Honky lands his neckbreaker, and Greg goes for his figure-four, but Hart breaks free. Valentine then lands a gut buster, which you don’t see that often, unless it's coming from the technically superior tag-team known as The Bushwhackers.
Anvil gets the hot tag – shoulder blocks for everyone. He then lands a huge clothesline on Valentine. Eventually Jimmy Hart tried to throw the microphone to one of his guys, but Bret Hart Malcolm Butler’s it, and whacks Tonk with it, to get the 1-2-3. 2 Stars.
Intercontinental Championship - Rick Rude w/ Bobby Heenan vs. Ultimate Warrior (c)
This feud started because Rude was mad that Warrior had bigger muscles than him.
This match result was shocking to me as a kid. I didn’t think there was any way in the world that Warrior could lose to a guy like this. I remember Warrior losing, but it’s been a long time since I've seen the match so I can’t remember how we get there.
Looking back on it all, Ravishing Rick Rude would probably make my all-time top 10 favorite wrestlers and characters.
To start things, Rude tries to give Warrior a knee, but Warrior still had his title on, so he gets nothing but a hurt knee. Warrior than throws Rude into the corner from halfway across the ring three or four times. Rude’s selling on these throws was comparable to Ziggler.
Warrior locks in a bear hug here early. A lot of wrestlers have said that Warrior would “blow up” from running to the ring, so he probably needed it already. However, Warrior would go on to have some pretty long matches, so maybe that isn’t fair to say. Rude breaks free with a thumb to the eye than lands a beautiful dropkick from the top rope, in which he gets a one count. The crowd “oooh’ed” the dropkick. After kicking out, Warrior locks the bear hug back in.
Warrior lands a backdrop on Rude. While Rude was getting into position on the mat, Warrior runs off three different sets of ropes before meeting Rude’s knees on the splash. Rude then lands a piledriver for a two count. Clothesline by rude, another two count. He then lands what I think is a Russian leg sweep but is called a neckbreaker by Gorilla. That’s odd, because Rude’s actual finisher is a neckbreaker and looks nothing like the move he just did on Warrior.
Warrior does a mini version of a hulk up and lands a flying tackle then slammed Rude’s face to the canvas a pair of times. Warrior was going to go for a double back breakefr but while lifting Rude back up he loses his grip on him and they go stumbling across the ring. Warrior says something here like “I know,” which leads me to believe he was acknowledging his mistake. They cover up the super botch with a clothesline to Rude.
After a third attempt at a corner move, Rude finally moves out of the way from Warrior. Rude goes for his Rude Awakening/Neckbreaker, but Warrior powers out, and lands a short arm clothesline. Warrior goes for a suplex to get Warrior back into the ring but Heenan holds Warriors leg. Much to the shock of eight year old me, and the AC crowd, Rude gets the 1-2-3. Heenan gets press slammed for his troubles.
Watching this with a more critical eye, there are obvious problems, but I still like this match quite a bit. In fact, I like this entire feud. 3 Stars, though there’s some nostalgia points there.
Bad News Brown vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
A cool down match, if you will.
The Network version of this event seems to have an edit, as about three seconds after Warrior chases rude up the aisle we’re on to this match. The apparent editing of the show is pretty funny, considering we went 40 minutes - with they show ALL of - between a match just a little earlier in the show.
Bad News jumps on Hacksaw as soon as he enters the ring, but Hacksaw quickly recovers.
I forget where I’ve read this – and in some ways it’s laughable – but Brown’s character had some characteristics of a much more popular character that would come some years later – Stone Cold Steve Austin. Bad News didn’t have any friends and he didn’t trust anybody. Remember, this isn’t my thought, so don’t laugh me out of the building, and it’s just a thought. I need something to write about while waiting and hoping Bad News Brown lands a Ghetto Blaster
Back in the ring, the combatants take turns punching each other. Then they do some more punching.
Brown goes for the Ghetto Blaster but his misses it (BOOOOOO!). Hacksaw lands his clothesline. Brown goes outside of the ring and brings a chair back into it with him. Hacksaw grabs 2x4. They ram their weapons together, and this one is over. Hacksaw gets the last laugh, landing an atomic drop followed by a 2x4 clothesline. After the match, Hacksaw has snot running down his nose, which he appears to try to lap up with his tongue. .25 of a star. Should be a dud because of no ghetto blaster.
The Red Rooster Terry Taylor vs. Bobby Heenan w. Brooklyn Brawler
I guess the Warrior/Rude match was worthy of two cool downs?
Can you believe that Terry Taylor almost became Mr. Perfect? Oddly enough though, Taylor had a gimmick in NWA/WCW that was at least comparable to Mr. Perfect called “The Computerized Man of the 1990’s,” with the thought that he did everything “Perfect” because he was a computer. I’ve only seen him wrestle one match as that character, but I’m guessing that’s where the idea came for him to almost get the Mr. Perfect gimmick. Instead he got a Red Rooster gimmick.
Heenan wears the same brand singlet Andre did. Heenan reverses an irish whip, and followed it with a tackle attempt, Taylor moves and Taylor gets the 1-2-3. After the match Brooklyn Brawler attacks Rooster to set up the legendary Brawler-Rooster feud, which is the next WWE Network Special. .1 of a star for the Irish whip by Heenan.
Mean Gene interviews Liz who says she will support both men. Rumors are that she did “support” both men during her time at WWE. Now now, that’s not a nice thing to say about the First Lady of Wrestling. I’m sorry.
WWE Heavyweight Championship – (c) “Macho Man” Randy Savage w/Elizabeth vs. Hulk Hogan
At the recommendation of some in the forum, I recently listened to a podcast that interviewed Dave Meltzer in regards to this match. Macho Man had threatened to kill anyone who touches Elizabeth when they were doing their walk-outs and then said he’d walk out, leaving without having the match.
Macho Man is surrounded by about six Trump Plaza security guards, while a number of WWE suits watch from the back to make sure he got to the ring without incident. When Liz is introduced next, she is completely draped by Pat Patterson and nine security guards, insuring nobody laid a finger on her. It really is different watching this match knowing now what was going on.
Savage was apparently off his rocker here, and it was hard to differentiate between the character and the man at this point.
Ventura asks why Macho Man came out first, being he’s the champion. Gorilla agrees that is usually the custom. Accept when you’re about to lose said belt. Ventura then calls Hogan “Lust Hogan,” which also may have a ring of truth to it.
Hulk chases Savage out of the ring to start the match and while out of the ring Macho steals two Hulkamania foam fingers out of the crowd and sort of flicks them towards Hogan who’s still in the ring. Maybe Macho was mad he didn't have his own ice cream bars...errr, I mean foam fingers.
Gorilla and Ventura fight about the merits of Miss Liz. Gorilla mentions that Macho slapped Liz all around in the locker room. Yikes. Jesse says that Liz would be nowhere without Macho.
Jesse puts the early stages of the match well, “A cat and mouse game.” Hulk Hogan lands a drop toe hold into a headlock, which Savage reverses into a side suplex.
Macho takes control with the ol’ thumb in the eye.
Macho locks in an armbar, which lasts a couple of minutes. A few times Macho pulls Hulk back down by his hair. Odd time for a confession, but I just realized a couple of days ago Hogan beat HHH for the title at Backlash in 2002. I literally never knew that. The reason I mention it is because the rest holds by Macho in this match remind me of how HHH attempted to get through a match with Hogan 14 years later. Hogan was obviously in better shape here – in terms of actually being able to move – but while I won’t call it an all-out callback, the early stages of those two matches have a decent amount in common. To be fair, I could probably say that about a lot of Hogan’s matches.
Hogan takes control after sending Macho through the ropes by his trunks.
Macho retakes control after Hulk goes for a backdrop but is met by Savage's boot instead. At this point, Gorilla points out to us that Hulk is bleeding from his eye – or around it. This was no blade job and likely came when Macho thumbed his eye earlier in the match.
Despite my earlier comments regarding the HHH/Hogan match, this is actually a fun back-and-forth match. Macho gets a near fall after kneeing Hogan in the back – sending him to the turnbuckle – and rolling him up.
Hogan hangs on to Macho’s leg while on the canvas, perhaps going for some sympathy from Macho, but Macho responds with a fist to Hulk’s bloody eye. Hulk does a mini-hulk, and sends Macho’s head to the turnbuckle six times (again, not ten). He whips him to the other corner and lands a big clothesline and then slams him over the top rope all the way to the blue mats. Liz comes and checks on him and Macho takes a swing at her, letting her know he doesn't need her.
Hulk beats Macho Man outside the ring a little more, and lifts Macho onto his shoulder with the intention to slam him into the post. Liz steps in between. Hulk implores her to move, but this distraction is enough for Macho to break free and push Hulk into the post. Now, Liz goes and checks on Hogan. Macho pushes her away and warns her and shoves her down the aisle, while referee Hebner bans her to the back. Pat Patterson is right there to drape himself over Liz to help her to the back. This is pretty good.
Macho lands his big double ax handle from the top rope onto Hogan who’s neck was drapped across the security barrier. Back in the ring, Macho does his over the top rope spot, again doing damage to Hogan’s throat. The crowd is pretty electric at this point. Macho continues to work the throat, including the old Big Boss Man second rope move, and an elbow and knee to the throat. He then uses the tape that was around his wrist to choke Hogan, behind the refs back. Next is a blantant choke hold for about 20 seconds, the ref gets to 2 a few times, and only tells him he’ll DQ him once he is done said choking. Macho heads to the top, lands the big elbow.
And then…
1-2-HULK UP TIME!
The way Hogan puts his arms while Macho is covering him pretty much tells us he was going to kick out. He had his arms between his chest and Macho’s so he could throw Macho while kicking out. Small nitpick, but I noticed it.
Jesse tells us that nobody has ever gotten out of the elbow drop before. That is, besides, George “The Animal” Steele a couple of WrestleMania’s ago.
Hogan, suddenly able to breathe again, withstands a few punches, lands a few of his own, and lands the big boot. An atomic legdrop later, and we have a NEWWWWWWWWWWW champion.
I have to imagine this was one of Hogan’s better matches on a big show, and credit goes to Macho Man, but Hogan held his own in there. I really enjoyed that match, 3.25 stars.
Final Thoughts – Learning more about the Hogan/Savage feud definitely made me look at the main event in a different light. It made me enjoy it more, if anything
There aren’t really too many duds on this card, with the exception of the two matches before the main event. However, before those two matches we had a pretty good Warrior/Rude match, again a match that was better than I expected. I also enjoyed Blazer vs. Perfect and Towers vs. Rockers. The Towers did a few moves that surprised the crowd, and as a fan you have to like that.
Finally, most people lump 4 and 5 together because they were both in AC and they lacked true wrestling fans. I agree with that to a point, but I thought the crowd and atmosphere were a lot better at 5 than 4 by a long shot. The crowd at 5 was still somewhat dead, but it was a lot more alive in spots they should be than they were at 4. The only question I had while watching this one is if it could somehow topple 3 for my top-spot. The answer is no, but it was a lot better than I thought and a lot better than 1,2, and 4.
First to Worst
WM 3
WM 5
WM 1
WM 2
WM 4
