Wrestlemania Rewatch I - XXXIX

[CMWaters]

Again, the ring carts are something that they should bring back. Hell, perfect timing this year for Mania 40.

The missing part you're talking about was...yeah, it was there.

Nothing more to say about things really, except that since she appeared here, Mary Tyler Moore is one of my "retro crushes" (you know, like how some people have it for Marilyn Monroe?), though specifically how she looked in the Dick Van Dyke show.

[DiBiase is Good]

Unless I missed it, you didn’t mention the six man match from WM3. The crowd is so hot for that match and genuinely, there aren’t all that many times in WWF history when a heel is as hated as Danny Davis was in this period. He was insanely over as a cheating bastard and although he wasn’t the greatest worker he was really good at getting the shit kicked out of him and in this match the Bulldogs absolutely destroy him, yet he still gets the sneaky pin,
And then there’s the commentary essentially insinuating that Jesse will be doing some very strange things with Matilda. They could have said “he’s gonna f*** that dog” and it wouldn’t have been less subtle.

[Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk]

Wrestlemania VII

-Love seeing a big Willie before Hacksaw comes out, USA! USA! USA!

-The Rockers over the Faces of Fear was a fun opener, the Rockers finally getting a W at Wrestlemania. One of many in the coming years I imagine

-After watching The Iron Claw, I have an even more difficult time watching Kerry Von Erich matches than I previously did. Crazy to think that two featured guys like Tornado and Dino Bravo wouldn’t be alive even two years after this event.

-Davey Boy Smith over the Warlord was fun, kinda surprised it went as long as it did, but a good power matchup. And I will always be a mark for Slick, who went face shortly after this.

-I’ll always hate dumb referees and that is why I don’t like the tag title match. Earl, you saw Jimmy with a helmet on the whole match and Knobbs get hit with a Hart Attack…then after sending Bret out of the ring, Knobbs is suddenly on top and Jimmy doesn’t have a helmet on? Surely you couldn’t have guessed that some shenanigans happened.

-The locker room celebration by the Nasty’s was fun though

-I love dumb wrestling, so I’ve always liked the blindfold match. It kinda sucks, but the body language and getting the crowd involved was very fun to me.

-The Streak starts with a terrible sell of the Tombstone

-The best 30 minutes of Vince McMahon’s booking ever follows. The match is fantastic, both dudes giving everything to keep their careers alive, The Brain is at the top of his game here too. I thought Sherri played her role extremely well and Dave Hebner really selling the 2 counts to show the crowd that neither man was done was great too. I know Meltzer would never rate something like this as 5 stars, but the whole thing is 5 stars to me. Even from the Brain noticing Elizabeth in the crowd setting the tone early, then seeing how she finally had enough was brilliant too. Everybody played their role to perfection here, even the ladies crying in the crowd for the 2nd best crowd shots ever (after the Streak ending) just to show how much these two meant to the whole crowd.

-Lastly, that’s 2 straight years with a major heel turning face in the post match to their farewell match and both were done fantastically. 15 years later, we get Lita’s dildos being sold off as her farewell. What a time.

-And then we get Demolition’s farewell as a team losing the Tenryu and Kitao, days before he quit the industry lol

-Nice to see Andre come back to help Boss Man defend his mother’s honor to win via DQ

-Earthquake had to be super scary to the people of LA

-As much as I didn’t like Hercules, Power & Glory getting less than a minute in their Wrestlemania career was criminal. One of my favorite tag team finishers ever with the PowerPlex.

-What a Rush!

-Virgil turning after winning a match will always be ridiculous to me…but that pop when he finally turned is iconic. This match blows though.

-The Mountie with a God-tier theme song and sound effect on the shockstick

-Hogan vs Slaughter for America is to me, the first turd of a main event in Wrestlemania history. I know 2 wasn’t great and 4 could’ve been better if not for being the 4th match of the night for Savage…but those still felt like Mania main events. Slaughter never has and never will feel like a main eventer. Maybe if he burned a flag instead of a Hogan shirt? I feel like they needed to go with the cheapest of cheap heat and maybe it would’ve worked.

Overall…it’s fine. Skip the main event and in reality turn it off after Savage/Warrior and you have a really good show.

[CMWaters]

IIRC, Slaughter wasn't comfortable with burning a flag, hence why the burning of the Hogan shirt.

If you think about it though, had this match happened a few years earlier and without the turncoat stuff, Hogan/Slaughter is the ultimate Saturday Morning battle: two characters that not only seemed over the top cartoon like, but both WERE in cartoons for a short time (Hogan with "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling", Slaughter in the last season and animated movie of Sunbow's G.I. Joe).

Other than that I'd say POSSIBLY one change I would make would be Bossman actually winning the IC title over Perfect, but in hindsight that MIGHT rob us of the match with Bret a few months later at Summerslam (unless Bossman had a short reign, but back then someone having the IC title more than twice would have been odd. Hell, Hogan was the first person here to win the WWF title more than twice. Only tag team titles had multiple by this point).

I know you have your problems with Duggan, but I think he did pretty well as a commentator in the opening match personally.

[Renslayer]

Mar 19, 2024 16:18:25 GMT -5 Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk said:

Wrestlemania VII

-Love seeing a big Willie before Hacksaw comes out, USA! USA! USA!

-The Rockers over the Faces of Fear was a fun opener, the Rockers finally getting a W at Wrestlemania. One of many in the coming years I imagine

-After watching The Iron Claw, I have an even more difficult time watching Kerry Von Erich matches than I previously did. Crazy to think that two featured guys like Tornado and Dino Bravo wouldn’t be alive even two years after this event.

-Davey Boy Smith over the Warlord was fun, kinda surprised it went as long as it did, but a good power matchup. And I will always be a mark for Slick, who went face shortly after this.

-I’ll always hate dumb referees and that is why I don’t like the tag title match. Earl, you saw Jimmy with a helmet on the whole match and Knobbs get hit with a Hart Attack…then after sending Bret out of the ring, Knobbs is suddenly on top and Jimmy doesn’t have a helmet on? Surely you couldn’t have guessed that some shenanigans happened.

-The locker room celebration by the Nasty’s was fun though

-I love dumb wrestling, so I’ve always liked the blindfold match. It kinda sucks, but the body language and getting the crowd involved was very fun to me.

-The Streak starts with a terrible sell of the Tombstone

-The best 30 minutes of Vince McMahon’s booking ever follows. The match is fantastic, both dudes giving everything to keep their careers alive, The Brain is at the top of his game here too. I thought Sherri played her role extremely well and Dave Hebner really selling the 2 counts to show the crowd that neither man was done was great too. I know Meltzer would never rate something like this as 5 stars, but the whole thing is 5 stars to me. Even from the Brain noticing Elizabeth in the crowd setting the tone early, then seeing how she finally had enough was brilliant too. Everybody played their role to perfection here, even the ladies crying in the crowd for the 2nd best crowd shots ever (after the Streak ending) just to show how much these two meant to the whole crowd.

-Lastly, that’s 2 straight years with a major heel turning face in the post match to their farewell match and both were done fantastically. 15 years later, we get Lita’s dildos being sold off as her farewell. What a time.

-And then we get Demolition’s farewell as a team losing the Tenryu and Kitao, days before he quit the industry lol

-Nice to see Andre come back to help Boss Man defend his mother’s honor to win via DQ

-Earthquake had to be super scary to the people of LA

-As much as I didn’t like Hercules, Power & Glory getting less than a minute in their Wrestlemania career was criminal. One of my favorite tag team finishers ever with the PowerPlex.

-What a Rush!

-Virgil turning after winning a match will always be ridiculous to me…but that pop when he finally turned is iconic. This match blows though.

-The Mountie with a God-tier theme song and sound effect on the shockstick

-Hogan vs Slaughter for America is to me, the first turd of a main event in Wrestlemania history. I know 2 wasn’t great and 4 could’ve been better if not for being the 4th match of the night for Savage…but those still felt like Mania main events. Slaughter never has and never will feel like a main eventer. Maybe if he burned a flag instead of a Hogan shirt? I feel like they needed to go with the cheapest of cheap heat and maybe it would’ve worked.

Overall…it’s fine. Skip the main event and in reality turn it off after Savage/Warrior and you have a really good show.

Savage holding the ropes for Ms. Elizabeth was such a beautiful touch

[jason1980s]

Mar 18, 2024 23:39:46 GMT -5 Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk said:

-Speaking of stairs, carrying King Haku down those stairs on the throne had to of been a tough payday. Shocked Hercules got the W here.



-Terry Taylor getting a win at Wrestlemania is one of my least favorite things ever

Funny thing is, on screen it looks like it's a huge entrance way for Wrestlemania IV and V but it's really not in person. Still, I'm sure stairs were hard for the people holding Haku's thrown. A few guys had difficult just walking to the ring.

Bobby hated working with Terry. I have listened to a few bits of a shoot he did in the early 2000s and any chance he can get to dunk on Terry, he does.

That WM IV coliseum tape was awesome with so many extras. When I got the 1998 home video VHS, I thought for sure it would have so many extras since Coliseum often cut out things. It was very lacking.

The ring carts were amazing but it was a different time. Now they probably think it makes people look less like "superstars" if they need help getting to the ring.

[CMWaters]

Mar 19, 2024 21:46:33 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

The ring carts were amazing but it was a different time. Now they probably think it makes people look less like "superstars" if they need help getting to the ring.

I mean, not EXACTLY the same, but there was the floating platform that Undertaker had one year to bring him to the ring.

[Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk]

Mar 19, 2024 20:52:41 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

IIRC, Slaughter wasn't comfortable with burning a flag, hence why the burning of the Hogan shirt.

If you think about it though, had this match happened a few years earlier and without the turncoat stuff, Hogan/Slaughter is the ultimate Saturday Morning battle: two characters that not only seemed over the top cartoon like, but both WERE in cartoons for a short time (Hogan with "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling", Slaughter in the last season and animated movie of Sunbow's G.I. Joe).

Other than that I'd say POSSIBLY one change I would make would be Bossman actually winning the IC title over Perfect, but in hindsight that MIGHT rob us of the match with Bret a few months later at Summerslam (unless Bossman had a short reign, but back then someone having the IC title more than twice would have been odd. Hell, Hogan was the first person here to win the WWF title more than twice. Only tag team titles had multiple by this point).

I know you have your problems with Duggan, but I think he did pretty well as a commentator in the opening match personally.

Hacksaw was MUCH better than I anticipated he would be on commentary. I was honestly impressed with him, especially since it’s not like he’s done it much (if ever?) since

[DiBiase is Good]

Pretty sure both Roma and Herc were injured going into their match (you can see Roma’s elbow is heavily strapped). I once heard Roma claiming that the match was going to be twenty minutes before it got cut due to their injuries. Whilst I’m sure it would have been a little bit longer, twenty minutes? Five minutes I might believe but twenty? The match was never going to be anything more than LOD showing it was just a matter of time until they had the titles.

I love The Mountie’s original theme. The comedy “I’m The Mountie” theme was great too and fit him better later on when they turned him into more of a comedy act, but at this point the more serious theme suited him.

I was at Wembley Arena a couple of weeks after this event during their UK Rampage tour. We saw a match between Demolition and The Hart Foundation and we were confused as on the televised show earlier in that tour, The Anvil made it clear that he was now a singles wrestler after defeating The Warlord. I wasn’t bothered though as I got to see one of my favourite tag teams ever in what would have been one of (maybe even the) the last matches of their initial pairing.

Side note, the original TV airing of this show in the UK was heavily edited in the main event, WM6 had been shown live here but WM7 was aired a few days after. There was a lot of censorship on non-news related TV at this time when it came to Iraq and the Gulf War and so the part when Hulk kicked out after having the Iraqi flag draped over him was cut out. Instead we got a terrible cut from him standing up out of the Camel clutch to him suddenly being mid-way through his hulk-up.

[msc]

That Bulldog/Warlord match is insanely good for a Warlord match.

[chronocross]

Mar 18, 2024 23:52:31 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Yeah, there's a reason that Piper's Pit last few seconds are all that are ever talked about for it.

When I first watched Mania V, I instantly became a mark for the Garvin Stomp even if ti was long after Garvin's major career was over. Randy Orton's was OK, but the way Ronnie did it and Frenchie's selling just was perfect for me.

The interesting thing about what you said with Hogan vs. Savage is what a Wrestlemania Main Event should be: compare this to about 10 (or 12 if you want the champion in both those matches more seasoned). Both Hogan/Savage and Austin/Rock have larger than life characters involved in the encounters, but the Mania 5 bout the competitors are colorful in their own ways, especially in the ring attire, whereas there's a less cartoon (for lack of a better term) level to Rock/Austin (not counting Rock's Stunner sells) and both guys in black attire. Yet both encounters work in their own ways for Mania big time mains.

The Piper's Pit segment was a slog to get through, even Bruce had to admit that on his podcast.

It should have ended with Brother Love getting ran off and move on to the next segment.

Akeem nearly took off Shawn's head with that clothesline, damn.

I enjoyed Hogan/Savage immensely and as a Hogan fan back then I loved it.

[fg]

Mar 20, 2024 14:37:03 GMT -5 chronocross said:

Mar 18, 2024 23:52:31 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Yeah, there's a reason that Piper's Pit last few seconds are all that are ever talked about for it.

When I first watched Mania V, I instantly became a mark for the Garvin Stomp even if ti was long after Garvin's major career was over. Randy Orton's was OK, but the way Ronnie did it and Frenchie's selling just was perfect for me.

The interesting thing about what you said with Hogan vs. Savage is what a Wrestlemania Main Event should be: compare this to about 10 (or 12 if you want the champion in both those matches more seasoned). Both Hogan/Savage and Austin/Rock have larger than life characters involved in the encounters, but the Mania 5 bout the competitors are colorful in their own ways, especially in the ring attire, whereas there's a less cartoon (for lack of a better term) level to Rock/Austin (not counting Rock's Stunner sells) and both guys in black attire. Yet both encounters work in their own ways for Mania big time mains.

The Piper's Pit segment was a slog to get through, even Bruce had to admit that on his podcast.

It should have ended with Brother Love getting ran off and move on to the next segment.

What about Morton Downey Jr.? He was Jerry Springer before Jerry Springer. Him and Piper was a dream match so to speak and at the same time the cartoon world vs the real world. You had the “most controversial” wwe talk show host vs at the time the real-life most controversial talk show host of all time. It should have been shorter though and you got to admit, Piper dousing Morton was great. A friend of mine saw the fire extinguisher part and he thought it was hilarious.

[jason1980s]

VII would have been better with a better main event but overall the show was really good.

I loved seeing Hacksaw come out to his theme song and he did great as a commentator. Not surprising Vince put him on Prime Time in 92 though that may be because he didn't have much for him as a wrestler.
For as cool as Hacksaw coming out to the theme was, I was sad we didn't get to see Valentine enter to his awesome theme.


The blinding angle was a great was to get Martel back on the card after being off the summer.

Demolition losing so quickly was sad and to a team that most fans probably didn't even know. I doubt WWF did much to promoter Tenryu and Kitao on TV.

Power and Glory losing so quickly is about what should have happened. Hercules had been losing so much and Roma was pretty a jobber before the teamed. They weren't going to magically become main eventers afterwards, despite what Roma probably thinks. The few minutes of shoots I saw from him, he seems pretty lost in his belief he was a bigger star than he was. Just about every one of the early manias had a SD Jones quick loss type match and this was the one for VII.

I also think Mountie's no lyrics song was much cooler. Luckily he had that one about a year before getting the new theme and he dropped down on the card.

Not sure if Coliseum did a video package to wrap up the show but the Macho and Elizabeth reunion would have been a nice one to end the package.

For some reason I thought this was the first mania were Coliseum did not cut out some entrances and backstage footage but I was wrong. This was missing quite a bit.

Though it was cool to see their meet and greet with Jimmy Hart being excited signing autographs because in real life he is such a good guy.

[Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk]

Wrestlemania VIII

Coming into this viewing, I don’t think I remembered it being such a bare bones show, as far as matches and performers go. However, this one still rules.

-HBK starting things off strong with his original Sherri sang Sexy Boy. A weird finish that made me laugh as Heenan asked to see the replay and they never showed it, because of the botch lol. Still a nice opening win to HBK’s singles run at WM.

-Tito winning the first ever Mania match and then never winning again is one of my favorite fun facts

-The Bad Apple is back! The Legion of Doom and Ellering get a big pop…4 months later and they are led out by a dummy and then quickly out of there.

-The Undertaker continues his streak with a fun match against Jake the Snake. Jake’s prematch promo is great as always, it feels like they were starting to get their groove going on the pre-match promo videos around the time. Crazy to see how great they got by WM X-7.

-Hot Rod’s promos are always cokey and this one is weird, especially since Bret isn’t really allowed to consider talking

-Great match, had to be up there as far as Piper’s best, which shouldn’t be too surprising since it was with Bret. Fun finish, I’m glad they used it again a few years later at Survivor Series

-Lex Luger promo on the WBF is fun. I think Brain tried to intentionally throw off the timing of the “live” questions and just missed it before the milk chugging. Very strange segment.

-I liked the Ray Combs Family Feud bit…but, the timing of it was very weird since the promo from Virgil/Boss Man/Sarge/Duggan was super intense before the survey bit.

-The 8-Man match was much longer than I remembered, which made it better, but it still feels weird in here, although it was a nice breather after the Piper/Hart battle

-I love the whole segment for Flair vs Savage. The opening promo was great, Macho Man leaving Elizabeth in the back and running out to show how pissed he was, the match, Elizabeth coming out despite the officials (including Shane Stevens lol) and then Mr. Perfect’s interference. I know Flair got in trouble for blading, but it added to the match. Macho Man’s post-match promo was dynamite and of course, so was Flair’s.

-The Natural Disasters with a very intense promo, leading to a countout victory!

-Owen beats Skinner, could’ve used more time. At least Owen won.

-Sid should’ve been the #1 Contender at the press conference, “On the Take” Jack Tunney biffed that decision by picking Hogan, who did nothing to deserve being #1 Contender. Sid was correct in turning and the crowd knew it, especially with the massive “Sid RULES the World” sign you could see during his entrance.

-Hogan’s selling of the powerbomb was horseshit

-I know they didn’t want Hogan going out on his back, but Sid could’ve been the next big star if they would’ve just let him cook (and play softball, whatever) cause that man is the master and ruler of the world.

Overall, I really like this Wrestlemania. It has a terrible finish and the wrong main event, but the pop for the Warrior is pretty epic. Too bad he would’ve been gone in 6 months.

[CMWaters]

This was a WrestleMania where they seemed to realize having 14 matches may have been too much.

Did the Network cut the Martel/Tatanka match and Martel's promo beforehand or did you just skip it in your recap?

Also, there was a planned British Bulldog vs. Berzerker match for this show, but it was cut because this WrestleMania was only 3 hours compared to the 4 hours of the past few.

[Ludwig Kaiser’s Walk]

Mar 26, 2024 1:45:49 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

This was a WrestleMania where they seemed to realize having 14 matches may have been too much.

Did the Network cut the Martel/Tatanka match and Martel's promo beforehand or did you just skip it in your recap?

Also, there was a planned British Bulldog vs. Berzerker match for this show, but it was cut because this WrestleMania was only 3 hours compared to the 4 hours of the past few.

Ah, I just skipped it in my recap. I knew I missed something, probably for the best with how the Model’s promo went

There was a comment that the Brain made before the Natural Disasters match that was terrible too, but in a slightly funnier way. He called some woman in the crowd a bimbo for having a Natural Disasters sign lol

[salz4life]

Been rewatching Manias as well.... enjoying your thoughts!

[4real]

Mania 8 was the first Mania I saw on VHS when I was 7 years old. I will always have a soft spot for it. Piper v Bret (plus promo) and Flair v Savage are both fantastic. Jake v Taker & the 8 man tag are fun. The main event is rubbish and so is the tag title match but for me looking back it’s all about the characters.

[fg]

WM8 is also notorious for the magazine preview of it being way off due to plans changing and the preview basically telling WWe’s original plans…before the Internet came around.

[Renslayer]

Shawn michaels has left the building!