Henry's World

I join you again here near the end of July to give you another blog update, with two important issues to address. Let's get to it. For starters, it's been a couple days since I last posted a pay-per-view review, and I doubt any will be posted in the next few days, if not longer. I've really enjoyed watching and reviewing these craptastic 80s/90s WWE shows, but I've recently been feeling a bit of a drop in both my interest and in my readership. This isn't a huge surprise to me, a lot of these shows aren't going to generate a ton of interest from anyone, who really needs to see 50 Jim Duggan or Hercules matches. Again, I kind of knew this could happen, but now that it has, I get an opportunity to try and work through it. I don't know whether this is just a break and I come back stronger than ever, or if I just throw in the towel and decide that reviewing every WWE pay-per-view isn't for me. As I said, I'm not planning on posting any of them anytime soo...

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, one of the most hyped main events in WrestleMania, champion against champion, Hulk Hogan versus the Ultimate Warrior. It's a match and a show that have had a lasting effect on the wrestling industry, from inspiring Edge to become a pro wrestler to the utter disaster of a rematch between Hogan and Warrior at Halloween Havoc 1998, one of the most legendary awful wrestling matches. Like last year, this is essentially a one match show, at least in promotion, but with another 14 match card on the way, WrestleMania 6 is about more than just "The Ultimate Challenge". - We're still not to the era of special sets for 'Manias, but we do at least get back the entrance ring carts from WrestleMania 3. The SkyDome in Toronto is the host venue this year, the first international WrestleMania, with the second and final one(to date), coming in the same place 12 years later. - Opening the show are Rick Martel and Koko B. Ware, putting on an okay mat...

We now enter the 90s here on these reviews, which is by far the most uneven decade in the existence of the WWF/E. Vince's company ran the gambit during these 10 years, from the end of Hulkamania to nearly going out of business thanks to WCW and the NWO to the hottest couple of years in the history of wrestling during the Attitude Era. But for right now, we focus on the build to one of the biggest matches in WrestleMania history, which begins here at the Royal Rumble. - Tony Schivone is back on commentary for his second and final WWF pay-per-view appearance, and I thought he was definitely improved from his last time in the booth at SummerSlam. I do need to shout-out the insanely hot crowd in Orlando for this show, who were absolutely ravenous for everything the WWF had to offer and made this one of my favorite pay-per-views to watch thus far. - We open the show with the Bushwhackers taking on the Fabulous Rougeaus in a WrestleMania 5 rematch, though that fact is never mentioned by ...

I've been on record to state that Survivor Series is my favorite Big 4 show to review thus far, with both the '87 and '88 versions being incredibly consistently, very enjoyable shows. I'll admit to some disappointment when I read the card for the '89 edition and noted that the tag team Survivor Series match had been eliminated. That was definitely my favorite match the previous 2 years and it's absence does make this show feel a bit monotonous. Still, it was a pretty fun watch so let's get to it. - Gorilla Monsoon is back on commentary, and he was very much missed, Tony Schiavone was fine at SummerSlam but Gorilla has become one of my favorite play-by-play guys thanks to watching all these 80s shows. Also, I recognized a young Shane McMahon refereeing the main event, I know this wasn't his first pay-per-view to appear on but it was the first time I saw him. - All of the teams competing at this year's event now have names, which is a significant help ...

Looking back, it's absolutely ridiculous to think of Hulk Hogan as some sort of mainstream Hollywood star. I suppose at the time it made much more sense; after all, his huge rise in the 80s began with his role in Rocky III and his charisma and stage presence made him seemingly an ideal actor. But he never could be anything other than Hulk Hogan, no matter what character he was asked to play and his enormous ego convinced him that he always needed to be the biggest star, no matter what. That being said, Hogan could've been the greatest actor in the world and that wouldn't have been enough to save No Holds Barred, Vince's latest attempt to create crossover success for the WWF. The film itself attempted to be the peak of campy 80s action schlock, and missed the boat entirely, instead collapsing into a jumbled mess that only the most diehard Hogan fans could enjoy. No Holds Barred's failures couldn't even be contained to itself, as in a painfully desperate ploy to i...

After a year and a half of build-up, it's finally come to this, the Mega Powers explode as Randy Savage defends his WWF Championship against Hulk Hogan. "The Macho Man" turned heel during The Main Event II after Hogan left during a tag match against the Twin Towers to attend to Miss Elizabeth, as the two men would brawl backstage. By the way, Hogan still ended up winning that match single-handedly after Savage abandoned him because of course he did. Now, one year on from Savage winning the title with a massive assist from "The Hulkster", the two men collide in the same building as the Boardwalk Hall plays host to one of the most hyped main events in 'Mania history. - This is the only time in WrestleMania history where the event was hosted in the same building in back to back years, and it does feel a bit redundant. Part of the fun of watching this show is seeing a new venue, a new set, a new presentation but everything about 5 is copied completely from 4. I ...

Though I did skip out on the WWF's first Royal Rumble in 1988, because the Rumble only consisted of 20 men and wasn't broadcast on pay-per-view, I'm not missing out on this one. Obviously, this is still in the days before the winner would get a title shot at WrestleMania, which is an important distinction considering who won. I have reviewed a couple Royal Rumbles on this blog before, though it has been a while since the last one which was in 2018. Let's see how I fare. - We open the show with a two out of three falls six man tag team match, which is the first one I've ever seen. Jim Duggan teams with the Hart Foundation to take on Dino Bravo and the Fabulous Rougeaus, and it's a very solid opener. I really love Jacques and Raymond, they both are capable workers and their heel antics made me laugh a couple times, they really seem to relish being as annoying as possible. This match does drag a bit after Bret is pinned for the first fall, with the heels working a ...

You know, I think I was in a bit over my head when I reviewed the first Survivor Series . I had never even watched one of these elimination tag only Survivor Series events before, let alone tried to review one. I feel like I have a better handle on not only what to expect going into this review, but also how better to present my thoughts about the show. So let's see if I can do a bit better this time, it's Survivor Series 1988, featuring Team Mega Powers vs Team Twin Towers! - We open the show with a revisiting of one of the biggest moments of SummerSlam a few months prior, as The Ultimate Warrior and the Honky Tonk Man each captain a team. Warrior has Brutus Beefcake, Sam Houston, The Blue Blazer(Owen Hart) and Jim Brunzell, who was replacing Don Muraco after Muraco left the WWF, while Honky Tonk's team consisted of Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine and Bad News Brown. Neither team is particularly impressive, and this match is mostly just a vehicle to get the Warrior o...

After his massive triumph at WrestleMania 4, you'd hope that the WWF and Vince McMahon would be putting all their eggs in the Randy Savage basket. Maybe in an alternate universe, the "Macho Man" as WWF Champion could've been something more than just the set-up for the eventual Savage-Hogan title match. In fact, there have long been rumors that Vince wanted Ric Flair to face Savage in the main event for the title, but the "Nature Boy" stayed loyal to the NWA, which was soon to become WCW. Without a challenger, Savage was thrown back into the orbit of Hulk Hogan, teaming as the Mega Powers to face the Mega Bucks, Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant here at the inaugural SummerSlam. It's a disappointing turn to be sure, and made even worse when you consider that Savage would not have a single title defense on pay-per-view until WrestleMania 5, though that's a story for another day. For now, let's take a look at the first version of "The Biggest Par...

So far on these reviews, I've mostly focused on the business side of each show, especially during my intros. However, there's more than enough to get into for the wrestling portion of this show, and with Jim Crockett Promotions slowly dying around this time, competition wasn't exactly breathing down Vince's neck. That allowed for a big risk, at least in storytelling, which began at The Main Event 1, where Andre the Giant met champion Hulk Hogan in a WrestleMania III rematch. Andre won(!), but under screwy circumstances, as referee Dave Hebner was replaced by "evil twin" Earl Hebner, who made the three count despite Hogan's shoulders not being on the mat. Somehow, this win counted, however when Andre then sold the title to Ted DiBiase, president Jack Tunney stepped in to vacate it, setting up a tournament at WrestleMania for the gold. The idea of this one night tournament sounds interesting on paper, but the reality is that this 'Mania isn't exactly...

The theme of today is counter-programming, something which most wrestling fans still seem to be up in arms about even after the Monday Night Wars. I'll leave you to figure out what I might be referencing in the modern wrestling landscape, but let's now head back to the 80s, where Vince McMahon is, shockingly, still petty. WrestleMania was created to be an equivalent to NWA's Starrcade, but wasn't exactly true competition, as both shows featured radically different presentation and were separated by about 7 months on the calendar. That was to change on this night, as the very first Survivor Series, a more wrestling oriented show than WrestleMania 3, went head to head with Starrcade '87. To up the ante, Vince demanded pay-per-view providers only carry Survivor Series, or they wouldn't receive the rights to air WrestleMania 4. Caught between a rock and a hard place, most providers went with the WWF, leading to a crushing defeat in the buyrates for Jim Crockett Prom...