It's time for Wrestlemania IV! The Ultimate Challenge is live from a jam packed to the rafters Toronto Skydome! Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon are on commentary!
Jesse Ventura has been to the Superbowl, the World Series and he has even been to The Rolling Bah Gawd Stones, but Wrestlemania surpasses them all!
We're FIRED UP!
Canadian National Anthem: Robert Goulet
Bit of boos mixed in with the cheers for the anthem, I'm assuming they were chanting Boolet.
Match #1 : The Model Rick Martel vs. Koko B. Ware
Koko B. Ware is rocking out on his way to the ring. Frankie the Parrot is going to be at ringside with him. Rick Martell is the classic Hollywood babyface model gimmick....some might even say he's the prototype. Even this early in the show, I can tell the highlight of the night will be Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon. In the middle of the match, I hear a lone boring chant, most of the crowd is kind of sitting on their hands though, so they probably agree. Gorilla actually references Koko getting "the short end of the money" if he loses the match. Remember the days when money was a valid motivator for wrestlers to win? This is a fairly standard back and forth opener that doesn't really make it beyond second gear. The Model wins with a boston crab.
Backstage interviews! Remember those!
Mean Gene is backstage with the Colostony Connection. Bobby Heenan calls out Mean Gene on the error, and Mean Gene denies it...Bobby cuts a classic heel manager promo for his tag team champions. André the Giant and Haku are intimidating as a tag team.
Demolition are also in the back and they cut a promo on how they're going to chop down the giants. Demolition is out to demolish and destroy. These guys are great, always a fan of Axe and Smash.
Match #2 : Tag Team Championship Match: Demolition vs. Colossal Connection
The champions get a jobber entrance? Blasphemy. Somewhere, five guys on an early version of the internet are raging. Well, we've got two big brawling tag teams in their brawling with rest holds every now and then. I don't know what I expected. The crowd busts out a weasel chant for Heenan. This match is just slow and meh. Heenan slaps one of Demolition across the face after he falls near ringside and draws the most heat anyone has seen this whole match. Gorilla and Jesse have better back and forth during this match than the two tag teams. Is Haku wrestling the entire match here? Andre has barely done anything. Man, Andre sucks as a tag team partner. He steps in the match to help Haku, gets taken out, and then gets wrapped up in the ropes. He is essentially useless at this point and Haku takes the loss for the team. Demolition is 3 time tag team champions.
Post Match Note: I am fully aware of Andre's health issues here. I am reviewing this as any fan who might come into it blind would see the match. I am fully aware that Andre was unable to wrestle by the time of this PPV. It is also worth noting, this was Demolition's final tag title win.
Bobby Heenan gets in Andre's face. I swear I hear Heenan say "You hear me? I'm the fucking manager." in his tirade. He slaps Bobby around and destroys Haku before leaving the Skydome by himself.
Mean Gene is in the back with Earthquake and Jimmy Hart! Jimmy and Earthquake are pumped, and making tons of earthquake and Herculean puns.
Match #3: Earthquake vs. Hercules
Hercules entrance gets cut a bit due to the interview. Hercules reminds me of Chris Masters. Earthquake's theme with the rumbling is kind of awesome. Apparently Earthquake has sent 28 men to the hospital so far....how are they letting this guy still wrestle? He's looking to make Herc #29. This match is another slow big man match. Earthquake squashes this jobber pretty quickly.
Backstage: We have an interview with Ms. Elizabeth now. She talks about why she isn't involved in the show tonight.
We cut to an interview with Brutus Beefcake, who talks about severing Mr. Perfect's perfect record.
Match #4: Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect
The Genius Lanny Poffo introduces Mr. Perfect on his way to the ring.....why can't we get a Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler tag team like that? Brutus Beefcake screams 80's loud and proud....bah gawd this is cheese. This match is ok, I guess....better than the last few. Still, this undercard is kind of brutal. Brutus Beefcake wins when Perfect knocks himself out mid match. I yawned a lot. Kind of sad that this was Mr. Perfect's first major TV loss.
I actually fell asleep on this. Brutus is THAT brutal.
I'm back....and now Brutus is cutting Lanny Poffo's hair.
Brutus is taking too long, they cut to a Rowdy Roddy Piper vs Bad News Brown video package.
Mean Gene interviews the Hot Rod....or the Hot Scott. Hot Rod has half his body painted black....and he goes on kind of a racist promo on Bad News Brown, remember when wrasslin got away with that kind of stuff? That aside, Piper cuts a very intense promo. Split personality indeed.
Match #5: Bad News Brown vs Hot Rod Roddy Piper
Bad News Brown gets a jobber entrance, and lots of boos. Piper probably gets the biggest pop of the night so far in his entrance...the entire stadium cheers him as he makes his way to the ring. The match itself? Nothing special, more back and forth brawling. Piper pulls out a "Michael Jackson Glove" that could be loaded....the ref allows it. Match ends when it spills outside the ring and the ref calls for a double countout. A double countout brawl at Mania? WHAT? They keep brawling outside as security pulls them a part....this feud has not been settled.
There is a promo with Steve Allen making fun of the Russian National Anthem with The Bolsheviks. I think this promo is longer than the match itself ends up being.
Match #6: The Hart Foundation vs. The Bolsheviks
Jobber entrance for The Hart Foundation. No music for The Bolsheviks. We're still going to hear the Soviet National Anthem....yay. This also ends up longer than the match turns out to be. The Bolsheviks are attacked from behind by The Hart Foundation who hit their finisher soon after and the match is over.....yep. The pre-match festivities lasted much longer than the match.
Wrestlemania 7 is in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Match #7: Barbarian vs. Tito Santana
Kind of a jobber entrance for The Barbarian and Bobby Heenan...there is no music and he's heading out to the ring as the announcers are in the middle of talking about Wrestlemania 7. Now they're going to Tito Santana cutting a promo...a quick promo....and he gets a full entrance. Man...they book 14 matches on this show, give half the wrestlers jobber entrances and it's still 3.5 hours long. Brutal. This match is mercifully short. The Barbarian wins after a flying clothesline. No one cares.
We go to a promo package for the next match.
I'm going to be doing fewer gifs....it's easier to just write as I review.
This is going to be brutal.
At least Dusty cuts an amazing promo. No Savage promo, sadly.
Match #8: Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire vs. Randy Savage & Sherri
Come on Randy....get to the damn ring already. Geeze. Dusty cuts another promo in ring...the same promo he just cut actually. Dusty has Miss Elizabeth in his corner! Wait, I thought she wasn't here! Bah Gawd Miss Elizabeth....the crowd goes wild. Miss Elizabeth's entrance was about as long as Randy's. Can this match start already? Wait...Sapphire is actually wrestling? This is brutal. Possibly the most brutal thing yet. Dusty and Sapphire win.
We get another promo for Wrestlemania 7.
Mean Gene is in the back with Bobby Heenan cutting a promo on Andre and how he's cut ties with The Heenan Family after the events earlier in the evening.
Jesse Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon are interviewing Rona Barrett who has uncovered X-rated footage of some wrestler....but they cut to a promo with the Macho King! You better get on the phone and call somebody! Sherri is going crazy....yeah. Damn I love the Macho King...highlight of the show so far.
Mene Gene has Demolition in the back, celebrating their tag team title win earlier in the evening. This must be half time. Jesse and Gorilla are back, and Gorilla says the footage Rona mentioned earlier is nothing to worry about.
Mene Gene is in the back with Hulk Hogan! He's hyping the main event...this whole show is just kind of hype for the main event. I'm ready for this match to happen already.
We're in the back with The Ultimate Warrior...he calls the interviewer a normal and throws him out of the picture. Warrior is hype for this match. Warrior wants to take Hulkamania further than Hogan ever can, and bring the Warriors and Hulkamaniacs together as one.
Match #9: The Orient Express vs. The Rockers
Mr. Fuji is out with The Orient Express....no jobber entrance for these guys. The Rockers are hype for this match. I'm hype. I'm actually looking forward to this one. This commentary is awesome btw. Gorilla and Jesse mentioned that the Orient Express have an advantage over The Rockers because they speak Japanese and the Rockers don't. As for the match, the Rockers want to get it going at a fast pace, but The Orient Express isn't letting that happen. They're controlling the pace even after Jannetty gets the hot tag to HBK. When The Rockers take over though, and the back and forth starts, it actually becomes the best match of the night. The Orient Express win by count out after Jannetty takes saw dust in the eyes.....what? This finish at Mania? Really? I'm so glad they made Mania more than a one match card on the modern shows, because really....this filler stuff is just bad for a big show.
Now we go to an interview with Rhythm and Blues, who are Honky Tonk Man and Greg The Hammer Valentine. The interview is kinda....eh. Honky and The Hammer are standing around with their guitars that they don't know anything about.
Match #10: Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo
Oh boy. More brawlers. Jimmy Hart is doing his thing with the megaphone, and Earthquake is out with Dino and Jimmy as well. Hacksaw yells HOOOOOO a lot, that is over at least. Dino Bravo hits some nice knife edge chops. I'm actually enjoying watching Dino wrestle....he's got more of a move set than most guys on the card. It's brilliant having Jimmy Hart with the megaphone. Jimmy tries to slip the 2x4 into the ring and it backfires. Hacksaw gets it and smashes Dino over the head. Hacksaw gets the win. Earthquake destroys Hacksaw after the match. It looks like he's sending another wrestler to the hospital.
We go to a video package for the next match.
Match #11: Ted DiBiase vs. Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts
This match is for the million dollar belt. DiBiase is out with Virgil who is holding more money in his hands than he usually gets working conventions these days. They go to an interview with Jake "The Snake" who puts over the importance of the million dollar belt and how he's going to defeat Ted DiBiase and make him humble. This is one of the longer matches of the undercard and it's actually not that bad. This match is so awesome, Jesse Ventura puts over the crowd as they do the wave in the Skydome. They can't stop talking about the wave...the crowd is hot, but I don't know if it's for the match or the wave. Million Dollar Man hits a piledriver....but only 2 with a cocky pin. Ted DiBiase eventually wins by countout after hitting the dream outside and hitting the post as Jake "The Snake" tries to get out of it. Virgil rolls DiBiase back in and he gets the win. The belt goes to The Million Dollar Man as it is an unsanctioned belt and he still gets it back on a countout victory. More post match fun as Jake knocks out DiBiase, takes his money and hands it out to the crowd. Hundred dollar bills for random folks in the front row....who all probably paid enough for their seats and think of $100 as pocket change. It looks like we're going to get an appearance from Damian too until Virgil makes the save.
And now for an interview with Akeem and Slick. I can't understand Slick at all, so we're just going to the next segment.
Big Boss Man calls Ted DiBiase scum. It's kind of a rambling promo and I don't catch a lot....
Match #12: The Big Boss Man vs. Akeem
Mercifully, this match is short. Boss Man wins. Slick jumps in the ring and gets knocked out too.
They go out to the crowd, who does not want to hear Honky Tonk and The Hammer sing their new hit single "Hunka Hunka Hunka Honky Love" or something like that....I dunno. They get Mary Tyler Moore on camera again. Mary Tyler Moore knows nothing about Honky Tonk Man, but bless her heart, she's agreeing with everything they ask her.
And now we have Rhythm And Blues performing "Hunka Hunka Hunka Honky Love"....or is it a ring entrance? I don't know. They're playing Honky's theme on speakers, but coming out in a car...not really performing anything. Wait...they're getting in the ring....are they actually going to do this? This is actually af full performance. I don't know if it is parody or meant to be serious or what....but they do the whole song. The Bushwackers come out after the song and clear the ring, but leave their instruments. The Bushwackers destroy the guitars.
On a show with so much filler, did we really need this?
All time attendance record at the Skydome: 67,678.
Match #13: Rick Rude vs. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
Rick Rude is out with Bobby Heenan. Steve Allen is out on commentary. This match has potential to be good. Superfly keeps mocking Rude as he has the upper hand early on. Nice short suplex from Rude. This actually is a decent match. I have always enjoyed watching these two, kind of a shame that it is only about 4 minutes. Snuka misses a dive off the second turnbuckle, Rude hits the Rude Awakening for the win. Simply Ravishing.
We go to a video package for the main event....finally.
Match #14: WWF Championship vs Intercontinental Championship Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior
Warrior is hype, running to the ring...he is ready for Hull Kogan. When you put it against the undercard, this match is pretty amazing. It's Hogan vs Warrior. The two top guys in the company at the time. This is what Mania is all about, and what it should be about. Even this far removed from the event, this match is hype...you just don't get this often in today's product. These two really sell the story of the unstoppable force vs the immovable object...two superpowers colliding. Does the match itself live up to the hype? You bet it does. Mania 6 is largely remembered for the main event, and it's not because the undercard was really bad. It's largely because the main event is awesome and lives up to the hype of a Mania main event. If a lot of the undercard feels like filler and like they didn't really flesh out the match, this match resolves those issues and is a full 20 + minute Mania Main Event. Warrior wins with the big splash after barely avoiding a big boot from Hogan. It's a great back and forth battle that anyone should enjoy.
In conclusion, I recommend watching the main event, and well...you can skip the rest unless you want to be put to sleep.