In 1990 and 1991, business in the WWF was already beginning to falter. By 1992, the wheels were coming dangerously close to falling off. The steroid trial was just a year or two away from taking Vince to court, leading to increased scrutiny of both the company and the wrestling industry at large. The Ultimate Warrior had either quit or been fired, depending on who you ask, the previous year following a pay dispute, and Hulk Hogan was prepared to take a leave of absence, both in an attempt to clean his own reputation and to take his stink off the product. Sgt. Slaughter had failed in his run as a top heel, turning face after less than a year. With the walls closing in, Vince got a lifeline, as WCW Champion and NWA figurehead Ric Flair left his primary competition thanks to the mismanagement of WCW President Jim Herd. Now, finally, McMahon had a legitimate main event heel, and Flair shot straight to the top, winning the legendary '92 Royal Rumble and becoming WWF Champion in the process. All signs pointed towards a showdown for the ages, the tradition and prestige of southern wrasslin' meeting the pageantry of sports entertainment, Ric Flair versus Hulk Hogan. But somehow, this dream match never happened, with no official explanation ever made, though the one most people tend to accept is that the feud was trialed out on several house shows that failed to draw, and Vince got cold feet. I personally would believe that with Hogan due to leave, possibly permanently, it would've been a bad idea to have him win the title on his way out and just vacate it, especially since the belt had already been held in limbo in '91 with the shenanigans between Hogan and Undertaker. Either way, the WrestleMania 8 card was drastically altered thanks to the change in main event, so let's see what Vince produced instead.
- For the first time on one of these reviews, we've got the classic duo of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan on the call, and they are fantastic. Heenan especially just kills it here, so over the top in his delivery and unbelievably quick witted. Of course, his most famous color commentary performance had come just a few months prior at the Rumble, so this could probably be called the peak of his career.
- Shawn Michaels is once again opening the show, but this time in singles action as he takes on "El Matador" Tito Santana. Both men have undergone transformations since we last saw them, with Shawn turning heel after sending Marty Jannetty through the Barbershop window, while Tito has had a gimmick makeover and it feels a little bit racist. Shawn was originally supposed to face Marty on this show, but he was arrested after fighting a police officer and got released just a month prior. This opening contest is a little too slow at times, with some very long rest holds. When the action does pick up, it's entertaining enough, both guys are very fast and bump well. Shawn gets the win after countering a slam into a pinfall, before celebrating with new manager Sensational Sherri.
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts had turned heel in the summer of 1991 following a long storyline with The Ultimate Warrior that never really got going after Warrior left the company. He then feuded with Randy Savage, who had turned face following his "retirement" after his loss to Warrior at WrestleMania 7, and their rivalry produced some great promo work. Savage won the feud at Saturday Night's Main Event 30, and Jake was turned on by ally The Undertaker, setting up a match here. This is essentially a squash, with Jake on his way to WCW and refusing to go through with the match unless he was granted his release. Undertaker no sells two DDTs, a complete burial of that move many years before indy wrestlers got a hold of it, and wins it following a Tombstone Piledriver on the floor. 'Taker gets Streak win number 2 and Roberts departs the company without a single real pay-per-view classic. Such a shame.
- In the first of two classic matches on the night, Roddy Piper defends his Intercontinental Championship against Bret Hart. Hart was the champ at the start of the year, dropping it to transitional champion The Mountie, who quickly put it in the grasp of Piper at the Rumble, his only singles title win in the WWF, which is crazy. Bret is tremendous here, out-wrestling Piper at the start by grabbing his arm and maintaining control despite Roddy's efforts to get free, eventually taking the champion down to the mat, a very cool spot. I was interested to see how Piper would be booked in this match, as for as great a character and promo as he was, his actual wrestling moveset was always extremely limited. They get around that deficiency by having him turn the match into a brawl, busting Bret open with multiple shots to the head and really upping the stakes by grabbing the ring bell. The crowd in the Hoosier Dome buys completely into Roddy's deliberation of whether or not to use the weapon, and the booking is perfect, as after he decides not to take the cheap way out, it immediately backfires, which Hart escaping the sleeper by scaling the turnbuckles and scoring a leverage pin. A legendary finish and a great way to close Bret's first WrestleMania classic.
- In eight man tag team action, heels The Mountie, Repo Man(the former Demolition Smash) and the Nasty Boys face The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Nothing much to this match, but I did enjoy the heel team, they're just so goofy and appear to having the time of their lives during their backstage promo. Virgil gets the win after a miscommunication between Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags.
- The WWF Championship is on the line in the mid-card, as Ric Flair defends against Randy Savage. As previously mentioned, Savage was engaged in a blood feud(literally following a snake attack) with Jake Roberts, and they were scheduled to face off on this show. But thanks to Hogan-Flair being cancelled, Savage instead beat Roberts clean and was hot shotted into a title match, with Flair insinuating that he had previously been with Miss Elizabeth, whom Savage had kayfabe married at SummerSlam '91. This match has the feel of an old-school WCW affair, with plenty of blood from Flair and an absolutely rabid crowd. Both men trade prolonged beatdowns, as Flair gets the early advantage, really working over Savage's back, and the "Macho Man" sells the hell out of it. Randy fires up after being chopped and Flair gives the rub right back, taking some ridiculous bumps and applying an obvious blade job, because it's Ric Flair. After Mr. Perfect saves the champion from being pinned by the elbow drop, Elizabeth makes her way to ringside, and I do have to mention that these couple minutes do take away from the match somewhat, as the camera is much more interested in the road agents trying to stop Elizabeth than on Flair putting on the Figure Four. After Savage does manage to escape the hold, he's absolutely brilliant with his selling, hobbling around the ring and barely able to stand. Savage is able to roll up Flair and grabs the tights to score his second title win, as the crowd erupts and even I stood up and cheered. The finish is the tiniest bit lackluster but I imagine it was just to give Flair something to bitch about in promos and set up the possibility for a rematch. This might just be my favorite match ever, near perfect in execution with a completely detestable heel and a beloved face telling an incredibly dramatic and gripping story in the ring. Watch this match.
- Afterward, Flair delivers a bloody kiss to Liz, gross, who responds by slapping and attacking him and chaos ensues. Flair and Perfect get some more shots in, and I actually think this would've been a great time for Warrior to make his big return. He was the one who "retired" Savage last year, and they would go on to face off at SummerSlam and then team up later on, it would've been a great addition to their story. Flair and Savage both deliver great backstage promos after the new champ celebrates with Flair's promo being especially great, as he's just screaming into the camera, hair stained with blood like a complete madman. Awesome stuff.
- Time to cool it way down, as Tatanka makes his pay-per-view debut, defeating Rick Martel. Nothing much to this match, Martel is fine but needs a better dance partner and Tatanka would get better later on.
- In tag team action, Money Inc.(Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) face the Natural Disasters(Earthquake and Typhoon, the former Tugboat). This match isn't terrible, as having a face team compromised of two big dudes means they can't fall back to the usual tag team booking of having one face in peril building to a hot tag. Typhoon really can't sell and drags everything down, though I did enjoy his standing splash. Before Earthquake can deliver his own splash, DiBiase pulls IRS to safety and they get counted out, a lame finish but not something I'm going to get too upset over.
- Owen Hart defeats swamp man Skinner in a quick squash that absolutely happened, and probably shouldn't have.
- Main event time, as after two all-timers early in the show, Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice have somehow ended up in this spot. This feud began when Sid(who debuted last year) eliminated Hogan from the Rumble, only for the Hulkster to grab his arm, letting Flair win the contest, which is quite sh**ty of him. Sid does at least have the look of a monster and has been built up well, but he is in no way ready for a match of this caliber. Sid dominates for about 6 or 7 minutes in extremely slow fashion, as I found just looking at the floor significantly more interesting. Hogan hulks up, hits the leg drop and Sid kicks out, stunning everyone in attendance. Did the WWF just give Sid Justice, of all people, the biggest rub ever by letting him kick out of the immortal atomic leg drop? No, Harvey Wippleman's other client, voodoo man and future pimp Papa Shango, has missed his cue, failing to run-in for the DQ in the main event of WrestleMania, which admittedly would've been a pretty awful finish anyways. Wippleman conjurers a new finish out of the blue, just sort of jostling with the referee, who disqualifies Sid. Then Shango finally runs down, likely sh**ting his pants, to attack Hogan, letting Warrior get the triumphant return pop, pelting it down to the ring and helping Hulk fight off the heels to end the show. This is just a complete mess, with the only redeeming qualities being the camera shots of both faces entering, as the roadie run during Hogan's entrance is absolutely glorious. That's all I've got.
6/10
Despite the giant clusterf*** that was the main event and honestly the final hour in general, this was still one of the best shows the WWF had produced to this point. Any card that included Piper-Bret and Flair-Savage would have to get a positive review, both matches are great in their own right and the latter might be the most underrated in WrestleMania history. This show going less than 3 hours probably bumps it up a point or two for me, as even at it's worst, it doesn't drag much, especially in comparison to all the other early 'Manias. WrestleMania 8 may not be the classic it could've been, but certainly gives 3 a run for it's money as the best in the Hulkamania Era.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: the only other show from '92 I would consider reviewing, SummerSlam, I've actually already done and you can find that review here. With that done, we move ahead to 1993 for a pay-per-view I am morbidly curious to watch, one of the worst 'Manias ever, WrestleMania 9. See you soon.
- Henry
Comments