WWE's fourth installment in the WrestleMania series featured the first ever tournament for the WWE Championsip, a battle royal, and two other championship matches.
The WWE travels to Atlantic City, New Jersey for WrestleMania 4, and the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino marks the venue for the 1988 edition of WrestleMania. This means that Donald Trump actually made his WrestleMania debut almost 20 years ago, but this year will be Trump’s in-ring debut. The celebrities joining the Donald at WrestleMania include Robin Leach, Bob Uecker, Gladys Night, and Vanna White.
Sometime after Hulk Hogan’s victory over Andre “the Giant” at WrestleMania 3, the WWE Title was vacated due to controversial events between Hulk Hogan, Andre “the Giant,” and the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase. The vacated title gave rise to the first ever tournament to crown a new World Champion. The tournament included Andre, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, and many others. In addition to the tournament festivities, WrestleMania 4 also hosted a 20 man battle royal, an intercontinental title match, tag title match, and a few extra matches all commentated by the team of Jesse “the Body” Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon.
At stake in the 20 man battle royal was a six foot tall trophy. The final three men in the ring consisted of the Junk Yard Dog, Bad News Brown, and Bret “the Hitman” Hart. After Brown and Hart double-teamed the Junk Yard Dog, they found eliminating JYD rather simple. As a tandem, it almost seemed that Bad News Brown and Bret Hart would split the victory and the trophy. Unfortunately for the Hitman, Bad News hit him from behind and tossed him from the ring. Irate from the double cross, Hart jumped into the ring, tossed Bad News out, and destroyed the trophy.
With the battle royal behind us, the first round of the tournament to crown a new world champion began with Hacksaw Jim Duggan taking on the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase. As a surprise to all, Dibiase not only had the company of his bodyguard, Virgil, but he also had Andre “the Giant” in his corner. Andre played an integral part in Dibiase advancing to the second round by continuously interfering. Eventually the distractions were too much for Duggan, so Dibiase secured a victory. In other first round action, Don Muraco defeated Dino Bravo, Greg Valentine defeated Ricky Steamboat, the Macho Man defeated the Natural Butch Reed, The One Man gang defeated Bam Bam Bigelow, and Jake “the Snake and Rick Rude wrestled to a draw.
In the first match of the second round Hulk Hogan squared off against Andre “the Giant.” These two men received a bye in the first round on account of them being the two men who had a decent claim for the gold in the first place. As Andre accompanied Dibiase in the first round, so did Dibiase accompany Andre. The match ended when Dibiase brought a chair into the ring that both Andre and Hogan used in turn causing a double disqualification. In other second round action Ted Dibiase defeated Don Muraco, The Macho Man defeated Greg Valentine, and the One Man Gang had a bye resulting from the no contest Rick Rude and Jake the Snake match.
One of the non-tournament matches on the card included Koko B. Ware and the British Bulldongs taking on the Islanders and Bobby “the Brain” Heenan. Prior to this WrestleMania match, the Islanders stole the British Bulldogs mascot: Matilda. After the dogs rescue, these three men had vengeance on their mind and hoped to turn the dog loose on Bobby Heenan. Predicting his own fate, Heenan came to the ring in a dog catchers outfit to protect him from the dog. The match ended when the Islanders lifted Heenan into the air and dropped him on top of Koko B. Ware for the three count.
In the third round of the tournament, the Macho Man Randy Savage defeated the One Man Gang via disqualification. Due to the outcome of the Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant match, The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase had a bye into the finals. Savage winning this third round match made him Dibiase’s opponent.
All that is left to WrestleMania 4 now is the title matches. Brutus Beefcake challenged the Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship. Although Beefcake did win, he only won by disqualification and could not secure the championship. On the other hand a newer tag team called Demolition challenged Strike Force for the Tag Team Championship belts. With the referee down and Mr. Fuji’s cane in the ring, Axe was able to use it as a weapon against Martel and Smash made the cover. At WrestleMania 4 Demolition became the new Tag Team Champions.
In the final match of the evening, the Macho Man Randy Savage took on the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase for the World Title. Again the Million Dollar Man was flanked by Andre “the Giant,” while the Macho Man only had Miss Elizabeth. Early on in the match, Andre distracted Savage by grabbing his leg from the outside. With Andre continually getting in the way, Macho Man sends Miss Elizabeth to the backstage area. When she returns, she brings with her the Immortal Hulk Hogan. Fortunately Hogan served as an equalizer against Andre “the Giant.” When the Macho Man attempted his flying elbow smash and missed it, things appeared to be coming to an end for Savage. Dibiase locked in the Million Dollar Dream, but Hogan jumped in the ring when the referee was distracted and hit Dibiase with a chair. Surprised Macho Man gets to his feet, climbs the turnbuckle, hits the flying elbow, and becomes Heavyweight Champion of the World. Hogan, Elizabeth, and the Macho Man celebrated ending the fourth installment of WrestleMania.
Little did the Macho Man or the Hulkster know that these events would actually lead up to the next years WrestleMania.
- Bad News Brown wins the Battle Royal
- Ted Dibiase defeats Hacksaw Jim Duggan via pinfall (First Round)
- Greg Valentine defeats Ricky Steamboat via pinfall (First Round)
- The Rock Don Muraco defeated Dino Bravo via disqualification (First Round)
- The One Man Gang defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (First Round)
- The Macho Man defeated the Natural Butch Reed via pinfall (First Round)
- Rick Rude and Jake “the Snake” wrestled to a draw (First Round)
- The Ultimate Warrior defeated The Mighty Hercules via pinfall
- The Hulk Hogan and Andre “the Giant” match resulted in a double disqualification (Second Round)
- Ted Dibiase defeated Don Muraco via pinfall (Second Round)
- Randy Savage defeated Greg Valentine via pinfall (Second Round)
- The Islanders and Bobby Heenan defeated the British Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware via pinfall
- Brutus Beefcake defeated the Honky Tonk Man via disqualification
- Randy Savage defeated the One Man Gang via disqualification (Third Round)
- Demolition defeats Strike Force via pinfall
- Randy Savage defeats Ted Dibiase (Final Round)
Previous: The Third WWE WrestleMania
Next: The Fifth WWE WrestleMania
Also see: Raw Review March 5
