wrestling / Columns

411 Ranks The WrestleManias: #27 – WrestleMania 4

March 1, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

With the colossal success of WrestleMania III, WrestleMania IV would hit the Trump Palace and Casino for the 4th incarnation. This WrestleMania was filled with controversy after Ted Dibiase had hired Andre the Giant to get him the world title that he could not buy from Hulk Hogan. With the “double Hebner” situation and quick count, Andre would take the title from Hogan on the Main Event, and hand it to the Million Dollar Man. President Jack Tunney wouldn’t stand for this and the title was in limbo. WrestleMania IV would see a huge tournament take place to crown an undisputed champion. This would also see Hogan and Andre get byes into the second round, but the deal was they had to face each other…

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* Bad News Brown won a battle royal, last eliminating Bret Hart
* “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase w/Andre the Giant & Virgil defeated hacksaw Jim Duggan @ 5:03 via pin
* Don Muracco w/Superstar Billy Graham defeated Dino Bravo w/Frenchy Martin @ 5:51 via DQ
* Greg “The Hammer” Valentine w/Jimmy Hart defeated Ricky Steamboat @ 9:31 via pin
* Macho Man Randy Savage w/Elizabeth defeated Butch Reed w/Slick @ 4:10 via pin
* The One Man Gang w/Slick defeated Bam Bam Bigelow w/Sir Oliver Humperdink @ 2:35 via count out
* Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts went to a 15:00 time limit draw
* The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hercules @ 4:37 via pin
* Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant fought to a double DQ @ 5:23
* “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase defeated Don Muracco @ 5:35 via pin
* Macho Man Randy Savage w/Elizabeth defeated Greg “The Hammer” Valentine w/Jimmy Hart @ 6:05 via pin
* Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake defeated The Honky Tonk Man © with Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue @ 9:00 via DQ
* The Islanders & Bobby Heenan defeated The British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware @ 7:25 via pin
* Macho Man Randy Savage w/Elizabeth defeated the One Man Gang w/Slick @ 4:10 via DQ
* Demolition defeated Strike Force © to become the NEW WWF Tag Team Champions @ 8:04 via pin
* WWF Title Tournament Finals: Macho Man Randy Savage w/Elizabeth defeated “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase to become the UNDISPUTED WWF Champion @ 9:17 via pin

Scott Rutherford
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase (WWF Title Tournament Finals): [***1/4] While the tournament concept didn’t lend itself to many memorable matches on this show, the finals certainly delivered with two of the hottest young wrestlers in the game at the time finally getting their main event due. And while this was about as high up as DiBiase would ever get, he made sure to put on a good match with Randy to give the Macho Man his first World title in memorable fashion.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts: [*] Normally you’d see those two names and think “Oh that should be decent” but no, you’d be wrong. This was before Rude really learned how to work a match and instead relied on a chinlock to kill five full minutes of this drawn out, slow, boring 15 minute time limit draw. Horrid stuff mostly with a couple of decent spots.

Show MVP And Why: Randy Savage: Unlike DiBiase who only had to wrestle twice, Savage had to wrestle four different matches on this show, with the most important being the finals of course. This was his shining moment, even if Hogan did try to steal some of the spotlight in the post match celebrations.

Your Thoughts on The Show: Another of the somewhat forgettable early Wrestlemanias, this show benefits from having a good main event and a really solid Steamboat/Valentine match in the midcard to make up for some of the crap in-between. Not a big recommendation, but an average show that’s worth a look for historical value.

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Sean Garmer
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase [***] – Both of these guys had already wrestled three times before facing each other in the final match of the WWE Championship tournament. I don’t think we could expect them to put anything similar to his match with Steamboat at WrestleMania III. These two were tired and you could tell, as much as I would have liked to see the referee throw out Andre and let the two contenders battle it out for the title, the interference was probably needed by this point. If there weren’t so many non-finishes during the entire show, the extra involvement in the main event wouldn’t have been a big deal at all. This match was good given the circumstances, but it was just that, average.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules [½*] – Maybe WWE didn’t think Warrior was ready to have a spot in the tournament but why did this and the six man tag need to even happen at this PPV? This was a big throwaway match just to give everyone a bathroom break and it accomplished a whole lot of nothing.

Show MVP And Why: Macho Man Randy Savage: He wrestled more than anybody else did on the show and he got to win the title at the end of the night. He had a good match with Butch Reed, another one with Greg Valentine, and he got whacked with a cane by One Man Gang, and still came out on top. Macho Man was truly a star at this point and he earned his stripes by running the gauntlet to his first WWE Championship.

Your Thoughts on The Show: This whole show felt average to me, there wasn’t anything wrong with the show, but there wasn’t anything spectacular either. The tournament was a very cool idea that had a fresh ending. It wasn’t executed as well as it could have been and WWE added a couple of extra matches to the card that didn’t need to be there. The tournament had too many countouts and DQ’s, so that adds to my plain jane feeling with this PPV. It is great WWE gave everyone a break from Hulk-A-Mania, the tournament was a neat concept for a big PPV like WrestleMania, and we got a fresh new WWE champion to boot. However, that’s pretty much it, there isn’t much else to talk about.

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Jack McGee
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat [***] – Overall ratings wise, Valentine and Steamboat is on par (for me) with Savage vs. DiBiase. And while I love Savage winning the main event, the main event relied heavily on all of the extras. There is nothing wrong with that, it is part of wrestling, but as far as the best match on the show goes that is Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat. It’s just a good wrestling match, and while some people have called Valentine a poor man’s Ric Flair, that ended up being perfect here because Steamboat and Flair worked so well together. Valentine and Steamboat didn’t have that magic, but they worked well together and as a pure wrestling match, it’s easily the best thing on the show for me.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts – There were a LOT of stinkers on this show (seriously, there is a LOT of shit on this show) but at the end of the day, I have to go with Rude vs. Roberts. You have Rick Rude, a damn skilled and underrated by many grappler, and then Jake Roberts, universally praised for having one of wrestling’s greatest minds. They have an angle and then they have a 15-minute to work in, you’d think you’re getting something special here. Instead, it was possibly the longest 15-minute matches I have ever witnessed. Rude deciding to kill almost half of the match with chinlocks and just not doing jack shit really hut things, and then the non-finish is the shit flavored icing on the cake. So much potential, and all we got was socks for Christmas.

Show MVP And Why: Randy Savage – Savage goes through Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, the One Man Gang and then Ted DiBiase to become the new WWF Champion. These were not great matches, and the main event was good; but the fact that Savage worked his ass off and sold it so well by the time the main event came around he looked dead tired. And then he made you believe, and he finally won the title and it was awesome. Savage was the first Mr. WrestleMania as he dominated the early years with such quality performances.

Your Thoughts on The Show: To put is bluntly, WrestleMania 4 was a shit card. You had 16 matches, with the average star rating being at around 1 star, there was a lot of bad here. To say that watching this show is a chore is an understatement. Savage winning the title is great, Demolition winning the tag titles is cool and you get the beginning of the Bret Hart face turn; but to be honest with you I can live a very happy life if I never have to go back and watch this show ever again. What may have sounded like a great idea in theory ended up poor in the execution. Cutting the tournament down to a 10-man one maybe would have been a first good step.

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What will #26 be? Come on back tomorrow to find out…