Survivor Series '89

Legacy Review

Survivor Series '89

November 23, 1989 from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont (Chicago), IL

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

This is the first Survivor Series where the teams were cut from 5 wrestlers to 4, and the first with team names. This was also the first year that the show wasn't up (within a couple of days) against Starrcade, as the new WCW regime in Atlanta had conceded Thanksgiving and moved Starrcade to December.

The show opens with rotating promos of wrestlers telling us what they're thankful for, starting with Hogan and ending with the usual Warrior craziness. The Brain Busters are still advertised in the card rundown.

The Dream Team ("The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, The Red Rooster and Tito Santana) def The Enforcers (The Big Boss Man, Bad News Brown, "The Model" Rick Martel and The Honky Tonk Man w/Slick and Jimmy Hart) in 22:02- Brown is a replacement for Boss Man's Twin Towers tag partner Akeem. Notorious loner Brown walked out on his team at the '88 Survivor Series. The same thing can't happen two years in a row, right? Santana starts and he and the crowd want Martel, but Honky gets in instead. Martel distracts Santana and lets Honky get a cheap shot in, but it's only Honky and Santana is quickly on offense. Honky counters a backdrop attempt and tags Martel in while Santana is down. Santana reverses an atomic drop and gets a roll up for 2. All eight guys get in the ring, but only stare off and they quickly back off before there's any donnybrooking. Boss Man is in. Santana with a DEEP armdrag. Dusty works Boss Man over. Boss Man is starting to lose weight and slowly becoming the good worker he would be in the early '90s. Beefcake and Rooster take turns in short face in peril sequences. Brown refuses a tag. Rooster and Honky collide and both get tags, and Strike Force explodes again. I wish these guys had gotten a proper PPV blowoff, they worked so well together. Martel reverses a rollup and grabs a handful of tights to eliminate Santana. Dusty gets in and we see a shot of a Dusty superfan in the crowd. The superfan is, of course, Sapphire, his future manager. Dusty with a dropkick! Ventura is stunned. Boss Man gets a bear hug on Rooster. Rooster bites his way out of it. Boss Man tags Brown in whether he likes it or not. He refuses to get in, so Rooster flips him in. After an initial flurry Brown gets the advantage, and now he's beating someone up he's happy. It's so sad to see Terry Taylor have to pare his moveset down so much to play the Rooster character the way Vince wanted it (a guy that barely knew how to wrestle). The heels go for a double team but Boss Man hits Brown. Brown is displeased. He argues with the rest of the heel team then walks out, taking the countout. I guess they didn't learn from last year after all. A high knee from Beefcake eliminates Honky. Martel works a tired Beefcake over. The ref catches Martel holding the ropes on a pin attempt, allowing Beefcake to reverse it and eliminate Martel, making it 3 on 1. Boss Man Slam on Rooster and he's gone. Beefcake and Dusty work quick tags on Boss Man. Dusty gets a high cross body to eliminate Boss Man and win the match. After the bell Boss Man works Dusty over with the nightstick and Slick handcuffs him to the ropes. A classic heel Boss Man beat down ensues, until Beefcake chases the heels off with the TITANIUN STEEL BLADES. One of Dusty's 47 forehead scars from blading got opened up during the attack. SURVIVORS: Dusty Rhodes and Brutus Beefcake **3/4

The King's Court ("Macho King" Randy Savage, The Canadian Earthquake, Dino Bravo and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine w/Sensational Queen Sherri and Jimmy Hart) def The 4x4's ("Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin and Hercules) in 23:25- This is Earthquake's PPV debut. The "Canadian" part of his moniker wouldn't last long. Who ever heard of an earthquake in Canada? Even the ground is mild mannered there. Quake was a last second replacement for "The Widowmaker" Barry Windham, who had suddenly left the WWF after a short stint back. Savage had recently defeated Duggan for the King title and was running with it better than anyone ever would. Garvin had also just recently been reinstated as a wrestler as part of his long feud with Valentine. Bret and Anvil are in different matches because thought was being given again to a possible singles push for Bret, which was ultimately still almost two years away. Ring Gearhead fact: this is a rare early Macho King era match where Savage is still wearing trunks instead of long tights, complete with a cool but short lived Macho King logo. All of Duggan's team have 2x4s and they march in formation to and around the ring. Savage isn't sure what corner they're supposed to use and shouts "What corner?" while the camera is on him. Savage starts with a rotating group of faces that move in and out. There's a lot of guys going in and out throughout this match with seemingly no tags made. Valentine does an A+ sell of a Hercules atomic drop. One thing I've enjoyed doing these reviews is being reminded how good Valentine was. Garvin gets a sleeper but Valentine collapses into his corner to make a tag. Hercules and Bravo hoss it up a bit. When Herc's down Bravo tags Quake in. He immediately hits the Earthquake Splash and Hercules is eliminated. Duggan tries to chop Quake down, eventually doing it with a schoolboy assist from Bret. Garvin goes FIP for a while. He fights off a Valentine figure four attempt. Stiff chops from Valentine, and Garvin responds in kind. Garvin gets a blind tag to Duggan, who hits a clothesline hiding behind Garvin on Valentine and eliminates him. Garvin Stomp on Bravo. HERE WE GO. Bret and Savage are in. The crowd is going nuts in anticipation. Wow, I didn't know there were that many smart fans in 1989. Good for them. Bret gets the quick advantage and works Savage over with Savage selling at about 250% until he manages to tag in Bravo. Bravo hits his sidewalk slam side suplex to eliminate Garvin. Duggan fights Quake in the corner, then turns around and tell the ref to "get off my ass!". Savage and Bret are in again! Duggan grabs Savage and Bret gets a shot in. Savage gets tied up in the ropes. Quick pin attempts by Bret, including a (for them) slightly sloppy small package. Bravo gets a bear hug and Bret goes FIP. Bret gets to show some serious resilience by fighting off several Quake pin attempts. Savage does a crazy amateur takedown attempt to try to keep Bret from getting a tag but can't stop him. But Duggan, genius that he is, tags Bret back in almost immediately. Bret posts his shoulder. Savage gets the last laugh with the elbow drop and eliminates Bret. I can't wait to review their sadly barely talked about but awesome Saturday Night's Main Event match (which took place before this). It's 3 on 1. Duggan does a good job of fighting off the heels. After a regroup Quake ambushes him from behind but Duggan is still fighting. Finally the heels go to full on desperation mode and Sherri pulls the top rope down on Duggan, sending him spilling to the floor. Duggan gets counted out. Another match where everyone was working hard. It gets a ratings bump for the short but welcome Bret/Savage goodness. SURVIVORS: Randy Savage, Earthquake and Dino Bravo ***

Mean Gene is in the back, outside the room where doctors are working on Dusty. He says Dusty has bruised ribs and a possible slight concussion. Thankfully, no anal bleeding.

The Hulkamaniacs (WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, Jake "The Snake" Roberts" and WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition) def The Million Dollar Team ("The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Zeus and The Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji) in 27:32- The DiBiase/Roberts feud was finally getting going after being delayed by Roberts' injury. Demolition won the tag titles back from the departing Arn and Tully in October at a TV taping. The Hogan/Zeus feud for some reason was continuing, despite having the perfect blowoff at Summerslam and No Holds Barred having already had its theatrical run. The most impressive thing about Zeus tonight is his unabrow. The heels stop Hogan from getting into the ring, so Roberts unleashes Damien to clear them out. Zeus and Hogan want to kill each other but their teams hold them back. Zeus starts with Roberts, but he demands Hogan so Roberts tags him in. Zeus no sells everything, including another Flair/Giant style shoulderblock bump from Hogan and an early match big guy bodyslam. Barbarian hits Hogan from behind and Zeus goes to work with his two moves. Hebner tries to pull Zeus off while he's choking Hogan, but Zeus pushes him away twice. On the second one Hebner DQ's Zeus. This was all to build up a special PPV WWF was putting on in December titled, shockingly, No Holds Barred. It was the movie, followed by a (pretaped) Summerslam rematch of Hogan and Beefcake against Zeus and Savage, but this time in a steel cage. DiBiase comes in and works on Hogan. Hogan gets a boot counter and tags Roberts in. Roberts 360 clotheslines DiBiase out and they fight on the floor. Demolition works their patented beatdown on DiBiase, and Hogan joins in! DiBiase gets a desperation counter and tags Barbarian. Fuji trips Ax, allowing Warlord to get the pin and eliminate him. Smash goes face in peril. DiBiase goes for and misses, as always, his fall down elbow off the second rope. That move succeeded less than Flair going off the top rope. But Smash doesn't tag, and pays for his stubbornness by getting eliminated after a Barbarian clothesline off the top rope. Roberts goes in and tries to DDT both Barbarian and Warlord but they're too strong and soon Roberts has also been FIP'd. Roberts is getting Bret-like bumps in off the buckles. DiBiase hits a piledriver but Roberts just gets a foot on the rope. Barbarian misses a headbutt off the top rope, allowing Roberts to get a hot tag to Hogan. Hogan cleans house until the ref gets distracted, allowing POP to double team him. They give Hogan a spike piledriver, but Hebner DQ's them for double teaming through about 15 5 counts. Ventura is absolutely furious. He accuses Hebner of protecting Hogan and treating guys beating on him like defensive lineman that dare to breathe on Tom Brady. DiBiase gets the Million Dollar Dream on Hogan. Hogan backs him up into the buckles to get out. Hot tag to Roberts. DiBiase goes from super selling mode to super special awesome selling mode. Virgil, who didn't come out with DiBiase at the start of the match, runs in. Roberts gives him a DDT for showing up late. But that distraction allows DiBiase to hit him from behind and get the pin with foot on rope extra leverage. It's down to DiBiase and Hogan. All the time Roberts was in Hogan was on the apron barely moving, selling the Million Dollar Dream. He continues to sell it, including showing one arm is very weak, while DiBiase pummels him, but we all know what's coming. Double clothesline! DiBiase reverses an atomic drop into a belly to back suplex. Hogan no sells it and pops right up. Punches, big boot, legdrop, good night. While DiBiase's leaving we get a clear shot of the outside referee and it's a *very* young Shane McMahon. Since the show's only half done Hogan manages to shorten his postmatch celebration a bit. Ventura is still livid at Hebner. As Monsoon says "Hogan thanks the big man upstairs" Ventura says "He should be thanking the ref instead!" SOLE SURVIVOR: Hulk Hogan **1/4

Intermission time, some of which is on the Network copy. We have dueling promos to hype up the No Holds Barred PPV/match. During the face promo Sherri ambushes them with powder and the heels attack.

Back to commentary for a bit. Ventura is wearing a shirt for his new movie Abraxas, which is available from our good friends at Rifftrax. Ventura says he's been hearing of dissension within the Heenan family which has broken down as far as pushing and shoving in the locker room. This is all to set up Tully Blanchard's absence later.

There's a promo from Piper and his team that's so insane it has to be seen to be believed. I'm not even trying.

The Rude Brood ("Ravishing" Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers w/The Genius and Jimmy Hart) def Roddy's Rowdies ("Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and The Bushwackers) in 21:27- Rude and Piper had been feuding since Piper mooned Rude during Rude's IC title loss at Summerslam. Perfect is still being billed as undefeated. Commentary notes that Heenan is not with Rude. Rude's tights tonight have portraits of his team on the front, and portraits of Piper's team on tombstones on the back. The Genius is going for subtle heat in Chicago by being decked out in Packers' colors. Perfect and Luke start. The faces all take turns biting into Perfect like Thanksgiving turkey. Well, that ties into that crazy ass promo I suppose. Perfect bails and Jacques slows things down with some stalling. Jacques flips out of a backdrop attempt and celebrates. Snuka congratulates him with a flying headbutt. The Superfly Splash finishes Jacques off. Rude accidentally pulls the top rope down on Perfect and they start arguing. Perfect 360 sells a Piper kneelift. More biting from the Bushwackers. This is what happens when Piper insists on no dinner until after the match. Piper atomic drops Perfect into the heel corner and lets him tag out. And I thought Piper was the brains on this team! Grading on a massive curve, of course. A Piper piledriver eliminates Raymond. Piper goes FIP for a bit until he slingshots Perfect into the post. Both Bushwackers get close near falls on Perfect. How embarrassing would it be to lose a long undefeated streak to the Bushwackers? It'd be like Asuka getting beat by Carmella!.......Hell, I just made myself mad again. Piper taunts Rude with a hip swivel. Perfect 360 sells a punch. Perfect manages to roll up Butch and get the 3. Piper runs in and gives Perfect the same rollup but only gets 2. After a long heel in peril run Perfect finally gets a tag to Rude, but Luke immediately catches Rude coming off the top. Rude fights back and gets the Rude Awakening to eliminate Luke. Snuka comes in and it face in peril for what seems like forever. Perfect does a 360 on a midring collision with Snuka. Tags on both sides and we finally get Piper and Rude in together. They fall out of the ring as they fight and brawl all the way down the isle. Both are counted out. Perfect and Snuka do a decent sequence of near falls before Perfect finally finishes him off with the Perfectplex. Genius takes his mandatory bumps afterward. Perfect and Rude were trying to make this good but it was too much to overcome. Still entertaining though, and a star making performance for Perfect, who was not too far from his first IC title win. SOLE SURVIVOR: Mr. Perfect *3/4

After the match Rude blows off Mooney's questions about Heenan family problems.

Warrior does his usual mad group promo pacing around then says he bonded his team through darkness and pain. They participated in a Klingon wedding together? Tonight's Warrior belt strap color is.....classic black. Kinda disappointing.

The Ultimate Warriors (WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and The Rockers) def The Heenan Family (Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Andre the Giant, Haku and Arn Anderson) in 20:28- Commentary is surprised Heenan is out in wrestling gear. No one mentions Blanchard but he's the odd man out. He an Arn were already set to go back to WCW after this show, but Tully got himself fired by WWF for failing a drug test, which WCW also got wind of and refused to take him back after. Interesting that Warrior is closing the show instead of Hogan. They were already thinking about Wrestlemania 6 and giving Warrior a test run in the main event slot. Everyone starts going at it before Warrior's even had his entrance. Everyone but Andre is cleared out of the ring. Warrior runs in and clotheslines him out while he still has the belt on. The bell rang while Warrior and Andre were in the ring so Andre is legal and is counted out. Smart way to get him out of the match quick. Andre was in no physical shape to wrestle anymore but was still months away from finally hanging it up. He and Haku would even win the tag titles soon after this show! Arn takes a beating in the face corner. Haku and Anvil trade some semi-stiff forearms. About .4 Suzuki/Ishii. Warrior is doing anything but standing in the corner waiting for a tag. He's pacing up and down the apron nonstop, and even goes around the post toward the heel corner on the apron once. Haku kicks Anvil in the back of the head and eliminates him. The faces start working quick tags on Haku, with Warrior pushing the Rockers off the ropes on all their moves. Arn gets in there with the Rockers one last time. Rockers/Brain Busters is one of the great WWF tag team feuds of the '80s. Warrrior finally tags in so he can work some of that roid rage or whatever it is off. The heels get Janetty down and Heenan finally tags in. He gets two kicks in and tags right back out. Haku pummels Janetty, then tags Heenan in again. Heenan gives Janetty a kneedrop and pins him! Warrior and Arn get in. Arn shouts at him to "calm down!". I think that was 50/50 character/shoot. Warrior and Shawn do a rocket launcher that only gets two. Shawn dodges a Haku cross body off the 2nd rope, goes up and hits his own off the top rope and eliminates Haku. Shawn's thrown out. Heenan teases coming off the top rope onto the floor! But he can't get a good foothold. Arn and Heenan argue a bit about Heenan not tagging in. Arn makes him tag out, but as soon as Heenan takes one shot he bails again. Arn plants Shawn with the World's Greatest Spinebuster to eliminate him. Heenan's in again, but tags right back out when Warrior resists. Arn and Heenan collide. Warrior gets the press slam and big splash and Arn is done for the night and in the WWF until after the fall of WCW. Arn Anderson, Consummate Professional, gave his usual max effort on his last night with the company and carried a lot of this match. It's down to Warrior and Heenan. Warrior sneaks around the ring so Heenan doesn't see him. Heenan gets on the second rope and yells at Arn to come back in, turns around, sees Warrior, and realizes he's a dead man. Heenan does some crazy bumps, including the Triple H flip over the top and to the floor! A flying tackle and big splash end it. Warrior clotheslines Heenan again on the floor on his way out. The last shot of the show is Heenan writhing in pain in the entrance isle. SOLE SURVIVOR: The Ultimate Warrior **1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: This is a perfectly typical and average no stakes early Survivor Series. Nothing will blow you away, but everyone was working hard and the whole show is watchable and usually entertaining. And even better, there's no Gobbeldy Gooker nonsense to suffer through.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-

Starrcade '86

Legacy Review

Starrcade '86

November 27, 1986, and like '85 it's a dual arena show- The Omni in Atlanta and the Greensboro Coliseum in the Crockett home base of Greensboro, NC

Commentary: Bob Caudle and (ugh) Johnny Weaver in Greensboro, Tony Schiavone and Rick Stewart (who?) in Atlanta

This show's tagline is alternately The Skywalkers or The Night of the Skywalkers. It's not a Star Wars reference, it's to hype the scaffold match that's on the card.

Speaking of Star Wars (kinda), we open up with a very '80s laser light show in Greensboro, cutting with shots of the scaffold setup in Atlanta. Tom Miller, the voice of the Greensboro Coliseum and the ring announcer for every Starrcade so far, welcomes us to the show.

Tim Horner and Nelson Royal def The Kernodle Brothers in 7:30 (Greensboro)- More names that barely register with me, and that's saying something. Horner was an occasional tag partner of Brad Armstrong. They would win the UWF tag titles after this. He was a jobber for WWF for a year in the late '80s, and worked WCW and Smoky Mountain in the early/mid '90s. According to Jim Cornette, he fired Horner from SMW for stealing a ring truck. Royal had been wrestling since the mid '50s, retired in the late '70s and unretired in '83. He would also go on to open a wrestling school where he would train, among others, John "People Power" Laurinaitis and Ken Shamrock. Don Kernodle was a Crockett mainstay in the early Starrcade years, but this was his last major appearance before leaving wrestling full time and moving into law enforcement. Rocky Kernodle looks spunky in this match but didn't last very long. No intros at all in the match. Anyone from the outside looking in wouldn't even know who's who. Some fairly good athleticism at the start from Rocky and Horner. Ring Gearhead fact: the lightning bolt on Horner's boots are almost identical to Strike Force's. Weaver keeps calling the Kernodles "Kernoodle", which is way more amusing to me than it should be. Royal puts a sleeper on Don, Rocky does a sunset flip off the top to break it up. Nice. After a double reverse on a rollup Horner manages to get the pin. The crowd boos that. Were they heels? Didn't act like it. This was decent tag wrestling with no heat whatsoever. **1/4 

"Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) and Brad Armstrong go to a 15:00 time limit draw (Atlanta)- TONY SCHIAVONE is ring announcing in Atlanta! Garvin had been feuding with Magnum TA until that light pole no sold Magnum's car. Rough lockup to start. Lots of intensity for a thrown together match. Solid mat wrestling sequence. They're going to be down there a lot in this one. Arm wringer tradeoff. Garvin locks in a cloverleaf type hold. Armstrong counters by using a chinlock to pull Garvin off. Precious distracts the ref and Garvin pulls hair to get the advantage again. We get lots of long mat holds, but they reverse them enough to keep things moving. Garvin almost gets a pin with a tights hold but the ref catches it just in time. A the 10 minute call they finally get off the mat and start doing some higher octane stuff. Garvin throws Armstrong outside. Garvin goes for some quick pins but can't put it away. Armstrong counters a bodyslam for 2. With 1 minute left Garvin tries a sleeper but Armstrong powers out. Garvin goes up top for a splash but as soon as he launches the bell rings for the time limit. He misses anyway. They fight a little more after the bell until Garvin bails and says Armstrong is "lucky" that Precious is holding him back. This was 10 minutes of some OK but clearly stalling mat wrestling, and 5 minutes of action. It's also disappointing that Armstrong, one of the best high flyers in pre-Cruiserweight division WCW/NWA, doesn't get a chance to do any of that. **

Hector Guerrero and Baron von Raschke def Shaska Whatley and The Barbarian in 7:25 (Greensboro)- Hector is Chavo Classic and Eddie's brother. Raschke was a well known "evil foreigner" heel in the '70s and '80s, it's weird to see him as a face here. Donnybrook start. The faces win the exchange and take over. Guerrero works 90% of the match for the face team. Guerrero dodges a Barbarian charge and Barbarian flies over the top and to the floor. Guerrero then flattens him with a plancha. Keep in mind, in those days in the NWA there were no mats on the outside at all. Just the concrete floor. The heels manage to double team Guerrero outside and take control. After a face in peril sequence Guerrero spits right in Whatley's face, then dives to make the hot tag. Raschke puts the Claw on Whatley but Barbarian breaks it up. Raschke dodges a corner charge, drops an elbow and gets the 3. Afterward the heels beat Raschke up. The only good thing in this match was Guerrero's high spots and selling. *1/2

Johhny Weaver, in the locker room, somehow puts two coherent sentences together to tell us that Dusty's not taking interviews, then tries to get an interview with Dusty. Dusty tells him to pish off.

No DQ Match for the NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Russians (c) def The Kansas Jayhawks in 9:10 (Atlanta)- The Jayhawks are Dutch Mantel and Bobby Jaggers. Newer fans may know Mantel as the manager Zeb Coulter in WWE. Jaggers was a Vietnam veteran before getting into wrestling, and had worked with Dusty in Florida, as well as WWC (Puerto Rico) and Japan. Krusher Khruchev is the future Demolition Smash, and probably has as much Russian ancestry as Elizabeth Warren has Cherokee. Mantel and Koloff start. The faces work quick tags and some double teams. Khruschev gets tagged in and jaws with the crowd a bunch before settling in. The faces choke Khruschev in the corner. No DQ. He dodges a drop toe hold to get the tag to Koloff. Mantel gets pulled outside. Khruschev smashes him into the announce table and the guardrail. Mantel manages to gets a double clothesline and the hot tag. Late match donnybrook! Koloff tries to come off the top rope with the chain but Mantel grabs his whip, yes a literal leather whip, and whips his leg to drag him off the ropes. Then he whips Khruschev. That's Indiana Jones level of whipping right there. The heels fight it off. While Jaggers is running the ropes Koloff nails him in the back with his chain and Khruschev gets the 3. Decent. It didn't play into the no DQ stip as well as it could have, especially with all the toys available. **

Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel def "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Paul Jones) in 9:05 (Greensboro)- McDaniel is the "king of the strap match". Rude had arrived in Crockett a few months earler and was still developing. Rude's music starts out with a woman saying "Ricky, you're so ravishing. Where did you come from?" then goes into a more jazz nightclub type music than the stripper pole rag from his WWF days. No prematch shtick from Rude, we're not there yet. Tom Miller says he's going to introduce the "proponents". We're going to have a debate with both guys supporting the match type? Lots of the usual heel stalling about putting the strap on. Rude gets a very high pitched pop for the robe removal. McDaniel whips and chokes him with the strap. Rude tries to take a power, McDaniel pulls him back in. Rude gets McDaniel down in a corner, wraps the strap around his knuckles and goes to town on Wahoo's forehead. Rude wraps the strap around McDaniel's writs to tie him up then starts going for corners but only gets 2. McDaniel works on the head and busts Rude open, our first bleeder of the night after most of the wrestlers and probably half the crowd bled at the previous Starrcade. McDaniel gets to 3 corners before Rude cuts him off. Rude gets the fist drop off the top rope. He goes up top again, but McDaniel pulls him down. He drags Rude around for 3, then chops Paul Jones off the apron. Rude gets up and forearms McDaniel in the back, but that pushes him into the final corner. No bell, but commentary acts like he won. Jones and Rude attack until Raschke and Guerrero make the save. The bell finally rings and McDaniel is declared the winner. *1/2

Promo with the Russians. Ivan Koloff hypes up the coming Bunkhouse Stampede match, while Khruschev demands a title shot if Nikita Koloff wins later. Ivan says that they're going to win "thousands of American dollars". The real question is, has America corrupted them into capitalist oppressors, or will they take that money back to the motherland and give it all to the Party in the name of the collective like good Soviets?

NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship: Sam Houston (c) def "Superstar" Bill Dundee by DQ in 10:24 (Atlanta)- The Central States title was the title for the Kansas City based midwest territory. Dundee was born in Scotland but started wrestling in Australia in the '60s. He was most known in the Memphis territory, where he had a big feud with Jerry Lawler. Later on he would be Sir William, Steven (William) Regal's manager in WCW in the mid '90s. And he's still wrestling today! Calling Sam Houston 220 pounds is the most egregious example of weight inflation I think I've ever seen. He's tall but he's almost as thin as David Tennant. The guy is maybe 150 pounds soaking wet. And with the belt. Houston dodges a punch and works the arm. Dundee uses the old Aussie trick, the Bogan Hair Pull. Flying headscissors from Houston. He calls for a bulldog. Dundee suplexes his way out, but Houston does a full 360 to land on his feet, then gets 2 off a roll up. Dundee uses the tights to pull Houston outside. Houston responds by atomic dropping him over the barricade. Dundee hits a splash off the top for 2. Dundee starts stealing Dusty's moves and strut. Gimmick infringement! Take him to court when he gets back in the locker room. Double ax handle off the top for 2. Houston comes back but misses a kneedrop. Dundee wraps him up in a figure 4 like position. Houston pushes him off but Dundee both pulls Houston's boot off and runs into the ref. Dundee picks up the boot and wallops Houston with it, but the ref recovered enough to see and DQs Dundee. He then tries to beat Houston to death with his own boot before leaving. **3/4

Hair vs Hair Match: Jimmy Valiant (w/Big Mama) def Paul Jones in 4:00 (Greensboro)- Well folks, it's been a long and bumpy road, but here we finally are. Jimmy Valiant's last Starrcade match. His three matches so far have been a quarter, dud, and a quarter. And for the second time in three years, he's going against manager Paul Jones. Incidentally it's Big Mama that's putting her hair on the line, not Valiant. Manny Fernandez, who had recently turned heel, is out with Jones but per the stips he has to be suspended over the ring in a cage. The usual arguments over this ensue before some face wrestlers run out and force him in the cage. Jones screams all the way across the ring on a whip and buckle bump. The usual slow, over the top punching from Valiant. This guy makes the Rock's punches look subtle. Jones gets some knucks out of his tights and waffles Valiant with them, busting him open. Valiant dodges a kneedrop before getting more knucks shots. He finally gets a comeback with more punches and hooks in his sleeper. Jones loses the knucks. Valiant picks them up, nails Jones, and we're done. Valiant buzzes Jones' hair off. Fernandez and Rude then attack and give Valiant a double DDT onto a chair. 1/4*

Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV. But not wrestler promos. Instead, we get hype videos for both the second annual Crockett Cup tag team tournament, and the Bunkhouse Stampede. The Stampede is a battle royal, but with weapons. Basically, it breaks down to the fact that Dusty liked to book matches that he could get away with wearing blue jeans to wrestle in.

Street Fight: Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) def Ronnie Garvin in 11:50 (Atlanta)- The rules are win by pinfall or a 10 count. Rogers is the future Big Boss Man, and is greener than green at this point. He's so babyfaced (a literal baby face, not kayfabe babyface) he looks like he just walked off the offensive line for the high school football team. He was being pushed as a monster heel to cover up his lack of experience. Garvin is in jeans, Rogers in a suit. Garvin dodges and punches. Rogers powders. He throws Garvin out, but Garvin grabs CM Punk's diet soda off the announce table and throws it in Rogers' face. Rogers gets a roll of coins from Cornette and punches Garvin with them and the coins go everywhere. Oh, for Monsoon and Heenan. "What a shot! There's nickels laying all over the ringside area." "They better get extra security out here, Monsoon! When all these hick humanoids see those nickels there's going to be a riot in this building!" "Will you stop!" "There's probably enough money to buy a used car at Jim Bob's Quality Vehicles laying on the floor out here." Garvin's busted open. Big splash for 2. Garvin gets a rope out of his boot and chokes Rogers with it. Another punch sends Garvin over the top and out. Rogers goes up top but Garvin catches him and gives him the Flair throw. Rogers kicks out at 1, Garvin lands on top of the ref. Garvin hits a piledriver. Cornette jumps in and gives him a racket shot. Both guys are down. Tommy Young gets to 10, but says there must be a winner. The first guy to his feet will win. Young pushes Cornette out! Rogers pulls Young down so he can't see Garvin on his feet. Cornette gives Garvin another racket shot in the knee. Rogers gets up, and wins. *3/4

First Blood Match for the NWA World Television Championship: Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) def "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (c) in 7:30 (Greensboro)- The first Four Horsemen match of the night. Dusty gets the full locker room/backstage walk entrance. He's wearing a Magnum TA shirt to show some support for the injured star. He's also got "TULLY" written out on both sides of his head just above the ears. Blanchard puts on amateur wrestling headgear to protect his head. Dusty demands it come off. After a minute, so does Earl Hebner. Dillon and Blanchard go to plan B- Vaseline on the forehead. Hebner grabs a towel and wipes it off. Dusty says enough of this and gives Dillon a Bionic Elbow. Dillon's bleeding all over the place. The match finally starts, with a ton of stalling. Dusty does some strutting and relaxes in the corner. Blanchard tries to charge him, but Dusty puts his elbow up and Blanchard stops. Dusty's trying to grab Blanchard's forehead to cut him open. Headbutt from Dusty. Blanchard covers up in the corner. Blanchard rakes Dusty's face. While they're in the corner Dillon grabs Dusty's foot and pulls him down, taking Hebner out in the process. Dillon gives Blanchard his shoe. Blanchard tries to use it but Dusty blocks it. Who uses a shoe, honestly? Dusty suplexes Blanchard, and as Blanchard goes down right on top of Hebner! Dusty grabs the shoe and teases using it but throws it away. Ground and pound, and Blanchard is busted open, but Hebner's taking a nap and doesn't see it. Dillon wipes Blanchard's blood off and hands him a roll of coins. He nails Dusty with it, and again coins are everywhere. Dusty's busted open, Hebner sees it (and for some reason has to wipe some of it off to confirm that it is, in fact, blood) and calls for the bell. Blanchard wins the title. It was a stall fest for a long while, but it played into the stip well and once it got going got pretty good. ***

Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette and Big Bubba Rogers) in 7:00 (Atlanta)- The only way to win is by dropping both your opponents off the scaffold and into the ring. Zero hesitation from the Road Warriors in climbing up. As usual, major stalling by the heels. While they stall Animal does some minor railing repair. You know, OSHA regulations and all that. Cornette grabs Eaton's leg begging him not to go up. He goes to the commentary table and says this is "ludicrous, insane and stupid". Is he talking about the scaffold or the last Ospreay match he hate watched? Cranky old man. When the heels finally get up Animal shakes the scaffold. The Warriors control for a bit before the heels pull out the great equalizer: powder in the face. Hawk teases falling through the support railing all the way to the floor. Eaton goes under the scaffold to try to pull Animal down but almost falls himself and uses Animal's leg to swing back onto the railing. Both heels get busted open. Condry tries to escape down the railing but Hawk follows. Eaton and Animal move down too. Now all four guys are hanging under the scaffold like monkey bars. After a bit of swinging, both heels fall and the Road Warriors win. Paul Ellering chases Cornette up the scaffold after the match. Cornette is trapped with Animal on one side and Ellering on the other, so he goes the only way he can- down. He gets under the scaffold then falls himself, legitimately blowing his knee out when he lands. He manages to walk back with Rogers' help. We make fun of Cornette now for being the cranky old guy that hates almost everything in modern wrestling, but all credit to him for being willing to take that for his craft. This was more a spectacle than a match. Shame, these teams could have torn it up in a regular match. *3/4

We have another intermission while the cage is being set up (couldn't they have done it while the last match was happening?). They show highlights of the '86 Great American Bash tour. Back then it was a two week stadium tour, not a single PPV. The main two shows from that tour are now on the Network, the ones where Dusty and Flair traded the world title, so reviews will be forthcoming.

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Rock 'N' Roll Express (c) def The Andersons in 20:20 (Greensboro)- No Dillon with the Andersons after the beating he took from Dusty. The Express get absolutely mobbed on their way to the ring. They were probably the most over guys in the company at this point. Ole and Gibson start. The Andersons get a double team in while Hebner gets Morton out of the ring. Quick tags on both sides. Morton and Arn slow it down a notch after the fast start. Arn dodges a corner charge and Gibson goes into the cage knee first. That's a giant flashing neon bullseye to the Andersons and they go to work on it. The Andersons physically hold Gibson back from getting a tag, but finally he manages to roll over and get it. Morton's momentum is short lived as Ole murders him with a couple of cage shots, busting Morton open. Arn gives Morton the ol' cage face rake. Sadly JR isn't here yet to tell us it's like a cheese grater. Ole starts in with some joint manipulation and cranks on the armbar. Arn gets a hammerlock slam. Morton manages to punch Arn as Arn comes off the top rope, but Ole stops him from getting a tag. Morton is a crimson mask and has one crippled arm, but he's on his knees trading punches with Ole. No one in possibly the entire history of wrestling could sell a beating like Ricky Morton could. The World's Greatest Spinebuster! Gibson saves the pin. Morton has been face in peril for 10 solid minutes now. Desperation small package! Only gets 2. It breaks down again, with Gibson fighting with Arn in the corner. Ole picks up Morton for a bodyslam, but Gibson dropkicks Morton's back, pushing him down on top of Ole and he gets the 3! Tremendous stuff. The Andersons were masters of brutalizing opponents. The RNR Express worked the classic face in peril/hot finish formula better than anyone. Hell, they practically invented it. A perfect combination. This was about as good as you could ask for. ****3/4

Main Event Feud Recap- The main event for this show was originally going to be Flair vs Magnum TA with Magnum winning and becoming, the NWA hoped, their megastar babyface that could compete with Hulk Hogan. But, as mentioned, he was injured in a car crash in October of '86 and the initial diagnosis was that he might never walk again, much less wrestle. Fortunately he would eventually recover enough to lead a normal life again, but as of now there was a hole at the top of the Starrcade card and only a little over a month to fill it. Things moved slower back then, a month then would roughly be like having a week to adjust now. Magnum and Nikita Koloff has just completed a long feud over the US title that Koloff had won, so it was decided to do a quickie face turn and put him in with Flair but not win. Word is the current Soviet political situation with Gorbachev influenced Dusty's decision in spirit of glasnost. The on screen reasoning given was that Koloff had come to respect Magnum during their feud and was going against the Horsemen to honor him. The turn actually happened about two week after the crash when Koloff was a mystery tag partner for Dusty against the Horsemen. The crowd mostly bought into it.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair (c) and NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Nikita Koloff go to a double DQ in 20:00 (Atlanta)- Unusually the champion, Flair, comes out first. After his entrance there's a long, somewhat cheesy tribute video to Magnum TA. Koloff gets a decent pop but there's also audible boos. This is the Starrcade debut of the legendary Big Gold Belt, a belt that was more or less designed personally for Flair. Ring Gearhead fact: Flair is wearing his wedding ring. I don't recall ever seeing that before in a match. Koloff pushes Flair across the ring off the lockup and Flair goes out to have a think. Koloff no sells chops and knocks Flair down again. Flair goes over the guardrail and into the crowd to have another think. When he gets in he goes down again and yells to Koloff "Now you get your butt kicked!". He tries to hiptoss Koloff out of the corner, but Koloff blocks and reverses it. Flair is very much working an early version of the type of match he would go on to regularly have with Sting. Koloff throwing Flair around is getting him more crowd support, which I'm sure was the intention. It's the Russian Bear Hug! The people in the upper deck can probably hear Flair's screams. Flair dodges a charge and gets a suplex in. Koloff no sells it and pops right back up. Yup, future Sting formula. Flair regroups again. When he gets back in the chops do a bit of damage, but not enough. Koloff chokes Flair. He goes for the Russian Sickle but Flair dodges and Koloff flies over the top and out. Flair goes out and posts his knee, then gets a chop block. We're going to school, kids. Figure four! Flair plays cat and mouse with Tommy Young trying to get rope leverage, but Koloff eventually reverses it. More chops and more no sells. Flair throws Koloff out and follows to give him a shot into the scaffold railing. Koloff does an obvious delayed blade lying on the floor. Some punches set Koloff off again. Flair Flip! Now Flair takes a railing shot and he's bleeding too. Flair Flop! A flying tackle knocks Young out of the ring. Russian Sickle! But there's no ref. A substitute ref runs in. Flair dodges another Sickle but the sub ref gets it! They start brawling in the corner. Young is back in and tries to stop it but Koloff pushes him off twice. The second time, Young calls for the bell. The locker room empties and they try to hold Koloff and Flair back. Due to the show scheduling all the rest of the Horsemen were in Greensboro while Flair was in Atlanta so they couldn't help. Young says to commentary it's a double DQ. I didn't see Flair do anything to deserve a DQ, but OK. That's not a good finish for the main event of your biggest show of the year, but considering the circumstances I guess they saw it as a way to keep the feud going while they figured out a more long term plan to replace Magnum. Unfortunately he wasn't on the roster yet (Sting). Up until then it was about 15 minutes of Flair pretty much wrestling himself, which considering who was in there with him is not a bad thing. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's better than the slog that was '84, but not nearly as good as '83 or '85. We're falling into a pattern where the odd numbered years are good Starrcades, the even ones aren't. I will give them the technical side of running two arenas for one show flows smoother than '85 did. All the Horsemen matches are good (surprise), and the scaffold match is a spectacle that you should probably check out at least once. In a lot of ways this would be the last Starrcade with the old territory feel. As Crockett soaked up more NWA territories, by the time the next one rolled around the transition was underway to try to take the company truly national to compete with WWF.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+

WrestleMania V

Legacy Review

Wrestlemania V

April 2, 1989 from the Trump Plaza and Casino (AKA The Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall) in Atlantic City, NJ, the first and only time a Wrestlemania has been in the same arena (or city) two consecutive years

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

THE MEGA POWERS EXPLODE! After the experiment of the big one night tournament at Wrestlemania 4 it's back to normal this year. We're still in the high match count years however. After 12 matches at WM 3 and 16 at 4 for the tournament, they settle in for 14 both this year and in the two years after before the cards got cut down in the doldrums of the early/mid '90s.

Hercules def King Haku (w/Bobby Heenan) in 6:57- Full King entrance for Haku. Interestingly, the guys carrying his throne are all wearing WWF blazers instead of wrestling gear to make them look like officials. Pretty sure it's the same local jobber crowd though. This is soon after Herc's face turn, where Heenan sold Herc's contract to Ted DiBiase. DiBiase claimed that he'd literally bought a slave. Herc's got pretty good music. Haku jumps him before the bell and lays in some chops, but Herc fights back with the usual power arsenal. Herc goes after Heenan outside, allowing Haku to catch him from behind. Again. Twice in one match. Haku takes over. Both of these guys tend to work a very slow pace so this is anything but a hot opener. Bear hug! Herc fights out of it then gets a "turtle diving off a cliff" looking crossbody for two. Herc goes off the top! but Haku catches him on the way down with a thrust kick. Nice. Haku tries for a headbutt of the middle rope but Herc dodges. Herc gets a kinda combo German/saito suplex with a bridge and gets the pin. *1/2 

The Twin Towers (w/Slick) def The Rockers in 8:02- The Rockers had just finished their big feud with the Brain Busters (where Arn and Tully took them under their wing and taught them a ton), and were about to go into their feud with the Rougeaus that tore up the house show circuit but sadly never TV. Shawn has since admitted that he wrestled this match with a massive hangover, and it kinda shows in his promo. The Rockers play dodge the big guys and make the Towers chase them. When things settle down Shawn and Boss Man start. Boss Man sits Shawn up on the top rope then slaps him, but when he turns his back Shawn hits him with a nice missile dropkick. Shawn and Akeem take a mini dance break. The Rockers work quick tags on Akeem, targeting the arm. Akeem gets a blind tag to Boss Man and they squash poor Janetty in a compactor. Janetty goes face in peril as the Towers work Big Man Offense on him. Boss Man is at least 50 pounds heavier here than his worker peak a couple of years later. Janetty dodges another squash attempt and slides under Akeem's legs to get the hot tag to Shawn. After the usual hot tag spurt Akeem absolutely MURDERS Shawn with a clothesline. Boss Man goes for a Large Toad Splash off the top rope but Shawn dodges. The Rockers start in with more double teams, making Ventura absolutely furious. Shawn tries to go off the top again but Boss Man catches him in midair and seamlessly turns him around into a spinebuster. Akeem hits the 747 or whatever it was called with this gimmick and it's over. Very likely the Twin Towers' best match, and with the Rockers only going about 75% due to hangover issues to boot. **3/4

Tony Schiavone is here doing backstage interviews. DiBiase brags about his mostly brand new Million Dollar Belt, his consolation prize for never getting into the world title picture again after his near miss at it last year. 

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (w/Virgil) go to a double coutout in 10:01- Still no music for DiBiase. Virgil demands Fink introduce DiBiase as the "Million Dollar Champion". Monsoon wants to know who DiBiase beat to claim that as a title. Ventura: "He beat The Banker." Wait! DiBiase and The Banker Mr. Mackelroy had a feud? Man, I'd pay money to see that. Yes, the Million Dollar Belt....IS FOR SALE! DiBiase jaws with Beefcake about the belt until Beefcake tells him the belt is nothing but materialistic nonsense that DiBiase uses to overcompensate for his lack of human tenderness and compassion. Well, he punches DiBiase. DiBiase almost slides out of the ring off a backdrop. After the usual stalling DiBiase tries to take control with a knee and chops, but Beefcake fights it off and 360 clotheslines him out. They brawl near the ropes, allowing Virgil to grab Beefcake's leg and trip him up. DiBiase takes over. Beefcake tries a small package and reverses a suplex. Double clothesline. DiBiase hooks the Million Dollar Dream in, but Beefcake gets to the ropes. Beefcake gives DiBiase the 10 face first turnbuckle shots that DiBiase sells after with about a .5 Flair Flop. Beefcake locks in the sleeper. Virgil manages to break it up. Beefcake goes after him and they fight outside. DiBiase joins the fray and while they're brawling the ref gets to 10 and both guys are counted out. Bad finish for a PPV, but it sets up the feud for the house show loop and back then those were the big moneymakers. Beefcake beats Virgil up in the ring after. He gets out the Titaniun Steel Blades and the heels bail. DiBiase controlled most of the match, which was a good thing. **1/2 

The Bushwackers def The Fabulous Rougeaus (w/Jimmy Hart) in 9:10- All American Boys! Such great entrance music. This is the Bushwackers' PPV debut. The Bushwackers pull of Jimmy Hart's jacket before the bell. Before they can tear it up (or eat it) the Rougeaus make the save. Hart comes in and takes another bump. The heels regroup outside. Raymond outsmarts Luke (insert your own joke about how easy that is here). The Bushwackers turn it around with a Battering Ram. The heels regroup again. Jacques takes a page out of the Guerrero playbook and unties his boot. Luke calls it out and gets the ref to fix it. While he's distracted Raymond ambushes him. Luke goes FIP. Monsoon: "An abdominal stretch isn't going to finish off the Bushwackers. Submit is not in their vocabulary." If we listed off all the words not in the Bushwackers' vocabulary the Wrestlemania 5 broadcast would still be going on today in 2019. The Rougeaus have a celebratory hug, which allows the Bushwackers to hit them with another Battering Ram. They hit a double team gutbuster on Raymond to win. It's a Bushwackers match. It's still early in their WWF run so they hadn't settled into their new comedic personas just yet after being hardcore heel brawlers for most of their careers, and obviously there's very little they could do physically at this point. 1/2*

Commentary throws it to Sean Mooney on the entrance ramp (where the shot goes below his waist and thankfully we can confirm this time he is wearing pants). He's ambushed by the Bushwackers on their way back up and gets a full tongueing. Mooney: "Words can't describe what it's like to be licked by the Bushwackers". He was probably rushed out for emergency surgery and tetanus shots right after.

Mr. Perfect def The Blue Blazer in 5:38- No music yet for Perfect. As soon as Monsoon says "this guys is virtually perfect" he slips and almost trips down the entrance stairs. Fortunately that was not a career omen. I think they took the silly laser effects in Ricochet's main roster entrance music from the Blazer's. The Blue Blazer is Owen Hart, working an early tryout of sorts with WWF through their working relationship with Papa Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, getting weekly TV wins over jobbers but losing to established names. Fastish start. Perfect slaps and shoves Blazer. Blazer responds with an amateur takedown and a slap of his own. Blazer counters a hip toss by landing on his feet. A dropkick sends Perfect over the top and out. Blazer goes off the top but Perfect gets his knees up. Perfect starts working the back, including a camel clutch. Owen is visibly fighting his mask a bit. Blazer whips Perfect into the buckles then snaps in a belly to belly suplex off the rebound. A Blazer crucifix gets a long 2 that the crowd really bought into. Perfect decks him with a straight right, then locks in the Perfectplex to win. Really good for the time they got, and it was still only about 50% of what they were capable of doing. Owen would leave WWF for a time right after this. He'd go back to Stampede just in time for them to shut down, as well as return to Japan and Mexico (where he lost the Blazer mask in a mask vs mask match). ***

Highlights of Mr. Fuji competing (and presumably cheating) in a charity 5K run on Wrestlemania Saturday. There's also some rap thing or other in the ring. I have no opinion or comment. Judging by the crowd reaction neither do they.

Handicap Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship: Demolition (c) def The Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji in 8:20- Demolition is out for revenge. At the '88 Survivor Series, in a perfectly executed double turn, Mr. Fuji turned on Demolition and joined up with the Powers of Pain. Demolition had won the tag titles a year ago at Wrestlemania 4 and were in the stretch run of their then-record 478 day reign. Warlord and Ax start. Ax axes. He tags in Smash and Smash smashes. They work quick tags and some neck wringers. Warlord pushes Smash into his corner and gets the tag to Barbarian. Smash fights out and Demolition takes back control. Ax goes after Fuji, allowing Barbarian to hit him from behind. Once it's safe Fuji tags in and surprisingly doesn't look that bad. I mean, he *was* a wrestler, even a WWWF tag champ himself, before going into managing. Fuji gets really crazy and tries to go off the top rope. Hey, I saw a 50+ year old Nakanishi do a superplex in the New Japan Cup this year, crazy things happen. But Fuji misses. After a Warlord block Ax makes the hot tag. Smash cleans house. Donnybrook! Warlord holds Smash down and Fuji gets the salt out, but Smash dodges and Warlord gets it. Demolition get their hands on Fuji. One Decapitation Device later, it's over. Demolition were capable of good matches if they were in there with good workers. This is not the case here. Still, it's booked right. *3/4

Tony is outside Savage's locker room trying to get a word. Savage is not in a talking mood.

Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) def "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin in 3:06- After the wrestlers are introduced but before the match starts Finkel announces "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, who comes down and says hi to the crowd. Snuka was returning to the WWF after four years away in Japan and the AWA. Weird time for a reintroduction like that. While Garvin is throwing his towel into the crowd Bravo Suzuki-Guns him. Bravo throws Garvin around all over the ring. He's Canada's Strongest Man, see? Bravo tries an arrogant one foot cover. Garvin blocks a powerbomb attempt and punches his way out. The Hands of Stone start doing damage. Bravo counters a piledriver, but Garvin hangs on and gets 2 on a roll up. Garvin goes for the punches in the corner, but Bravo picks him up and hits an inverted atomic drop. Bravo hits his sidewalk slam side suplex finisher and it's over. After the match Garvin whacks Frenchy with a Hand of Stone and does the Garvin Stomp on him. Surprisingly spunky considering who was in there. Probably a case of not having much time being a benefit instead of a detriment for once. **

The Brain Busters (w/Bobby Heenan) def Strike Force in 9:17- This is Strike Force's first match together since Martel "got injured" (took some time off for family concerns) in July of '88. Tully and Martel start. Arn knees Martel in the back from the apron on a rope run then denies to the ref that he did it. Martel fights out of the Busters' corner. Early donnybrook! Double dropkick on the heels. Arn and Martel settle in and do some mat wrestling. Martel turns a body scissors into a Boston Crab that Tully breaks up. Sneaky tag to Santana. Figure four on Tully. Martel puts a figure four on Arn! Stereo figure fours! Arn rakes Santana's eyes and everyone lets go. Santana takes aim at Arn with a flying picante but Arn ducks and he nails Martel! Martel takes forever to recover and the heels work Santana over. Arn goes to the top, Santana catches him and gives him the Flair throw. Santana crawls over to his corner but Martel completely ignores him. Martel wanders down the apron, then jumps down and leaves Santana to die. Arn hits a World's Greatest Spinebuster. Santana tries to fight out but the heels are too much. A spike piledriver ends it. About as good as you can get in sub-10 minutes, especially with all the angle legwork that needed doing. I'm sure there's one match floating out there to prove me wrong, but I'd be willing to bet the Busters never went below 3 stars in any non-jobber match in their WWF run. ***1/2

Immediately after the match we cut to Martel with Mean Gene. Martel has trouble finding his promo footing but eventually gets there. He's tired of carrying Santana's dead weight around and decided it was time to cut loose. He'd debut the Model gimmick soon after.

In lieu of a normal intermission this year we have an extended talk show segment. This was advertised as Roddy Piper's first appearance since his "retirement" at Wrestlemania 3. For several years after WWF held this up as one of the pinnacle Wrestlemania moments of all time, but it didn't age well and has since become more a footnote than legendary segment. It's not too bad though. Finkel butters up the audience for Piper's entrance but Brother Love comes out to Piper's music. Love does a pretty good Piper impression. Then Morton Downey Jr comes out. Downey was a popular talk show loudmouth for about 20 minutes in the late '80s. Think late '90s Jerry Springer, 2000's Bill O'Reilly and every talking heads shouting at each other segment on current news and sports cable TV rolled into one. He and Love insult each other for a bit, then Piper finally comes out, to a much subdued pop thanks to the Brother Love fakeout earlier. Piper and Love trade barbs and Piper chases him off. Piper and Downey insult each other, Downey blows cigarette smoke in Piper's face, Piper blows a fire extinguisher in his face. End scene. Ironically, this is only about two months before Downey's career crashed and burned leading to his show being cancelled.

Mean Gene intros the world premiere of the trailer for Hulk Hogan's next great megahit movie, NO HOLDS BARRED. Afterward Ventura has a hilarious meltdown over Hogan encroaching on his Hollywood turf.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts def Andre the Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) by DQ in 9:44- This feud started because the sight of Damien gave Andre a heart attack. Really. Your guest referee is Big John Studd, who was Andre's opponent at Wrestlemania 1 (with face/heel roles reversed) and does a good job of sucking away most of Roberts' heat for this match. At this point it's painfully obvious that Andre has carried on wrestling for too long. He should have retired after the Hogan feud. He has visible difficulty just walking. Studd and Andre argue during Roberts' entrance. During the argument Heenan sneakily takes a top turnbuckle pad off. Andre ambushes Roberts before the bell and nails him into that buckle. Andre goes through his usual chokes and squashes. Roberts tries to get Damien but Andre cuts him off. Roberts comes back and Andre does his "getting tied in the ropes" bit. Roberts gets some shots in before Heenan gets Andre free. Andre takes over again and locks in the Nerve Pinch of Infuriating Agony +1. Roberts hits a couple of knee lifts and gives Andre a shot into the exposed buckle, knocking him down. Andre throws him out on a pin attempt. Andre and Studd argue some more. Roberts sneaks over to get Damien, but Studd blocks him from getting into the ring. While all that's going on Ted DiBiase sneaks down and steals Damien. Roberts chases, while Studd and Andre finally come to blows in the ring. Roberts gets Damien back, lets him loose in the ring, and the heels bail. Studd raises Roberts' arm and declares him winner by DQ. It's a booking mess, and the work is no better thanks to Andre's limitations, despite Roberts selling well for him. 1/4*

The Hart Foundation def The Honky Tonk Man & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) in 7:40- No matching gear or team name for Honky and Valentine yet. The Harts had more or less been mired in the tag version of midcard hell since their face turn in '88 but were slowly working their way out of it. Bret and Honky start. Bret schools both heels and tags Anvil in. Slingshot spear! I can't stress how amazing that move was back then. Valentine dodges a Bret elbow drop. Bret goes full face in peril. Honky hits the Shake, Rattle and Roll but doesn't go for a cover. Instead, he tags Valentine, who wants to finish it with the figure four. Bret fights out. After a little more teasing he finally rolls over and get the hot tag to Anvil. Valentine breaks up a pin attempt. It breaks down, with Anvil chasing Jimmy Hart away. In the confusion Hart left his megaphone behind. Anvil throws it to Bret, who whacks Honky with it and gets the 3. Perfectly acceptable. **1/2

WWF Intercontinental Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan) def The Ultimate Warrior (c) in 9:36- Rude attacked Warrior during a posedown segment at the Royal Rumble to set this up. Rude's tights have the IC title belt on the front and Warrior on the back. As Warrior runs the ropes before the bell Rude tries to get him with a knee, but Warrior still had the belt on so Rude just hurt himself. Warrior throws Rude around like a doll. It's the bear hug! Rude eye pokes his way out, then goes to the top and hits a very nice missile dropkick. Warrior kicks out at 1 and slams Rude around a bit. It's Bear Hug 2: The Revenge of Bear Wrestling Stu Hart! The ref stops Rude from eye poking his way out again. Rude gets about .7 Shawn Michaels elevation on a backdrop. Warrior goes for a splash but Rude gets his knees up. Rude hits a piledriver but can't cover right away. He tries the hip swivel but his back is hurting too much. Rude gets a couple of close near falls. There's a nice spot where Rude is holding Warrior's wrists, Warrior drags him to the ropes and starts to shake them and Warrior up with Rude still holding on. There's a really bad botch where Warrior gets a backbreaker on Rude, then goes to lift him up for a second one but can't hold him up and stumbles and collapses into the corner. Lucky Rude didn't hit his head on the buckles there. Rude dodges a dive in the corner. He goes for the Rude Awakening, but Warrior powers out. A 360 clothesline sends Rude out. Warrior tries to suplex Rude back in from the apron, but when he lifts Rude up Heenan runs in, grabs Warrior's foot, Rude falls on top of Warrior, and Heenan holds down Warrior's foot as Rude gets the 3, the win and the title! The Wrestlemania 5 finish, as it's come to be known. Warrior beats up and press slams Heenan after the match while Rude gets the hell out of town with the belt. This was the first real inkling that Warrior could do something good with the right dance partner, and that Rude was much more than a body guy that could talk. They'd go on to have an even better near 4 star rematch at Summerslam. ***

Bad News Brown and Hacksaw Jim Duggan go to a double DQ in 3:49- No music for either guy. This has the potential to be a really good brawl if done right. Brown attacks Duggan as he's getting in the ring. Duggan dodges a corner charge and pounds away a bit. Brown takes a powder halfway up the entrance ramp. When he gets back up on the apron Duggan flips him back in. Brown takes control but makes the mistake of attacking Duggan in the head. Nothing there to hurt. They brawl to the outside. Duggan gets posted. Brown goes for the Ghetto Blaster but Duggan drops down to avoid it. Duggan hits his 3 point stance football tackle finisher but Brown flies all the way out of the ring. Brown gets up and grabs a chair. Duggan obliges by grabbing his 2x4 and we have a full on weapon sword fight in the middle of the ring. The ref calls for the bell. Surprisingly good for the time they got. A perfect example of, as JR would say, maximizing your minutes. This would have been really good about 10 years later. They could have done the weapon fight on Raw and had the full on hardcore match at WM. **

Mean Gene is with the Rooster. Man, I'll never get over how embarrassing it is to see a guy as great as Terry Taylor doing that silly rooster call and head bob.

The Red Rooster def Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (w/The Brooklyn Brawler) in :31- Rooster was initially part of the Heenan family before turning face, this is the final blowoff. Heenan is still hurting from the assault by Warrior earlier. Heenan tries to hide in the corner, Rooster has none of it. Heenan posts his shoulder, Rooster covers him for 3 and we're done. Heenan could bump better than half the roster. Rooster fights off an attack from the Brawler after. NR

Main Event Feud Recap- Most of you out there know this one so I'll keep it short. Savage turned face soon after dropping the IC title at Wrestlemania 3 because everyone was cheering for him anyway. Later in the fall he and Hogan had their first face/face interaction and laid the groundwork for the Mega Powers. The alliance was solidified when Hogan helped Savage win the WWF title tournament final at Wrestlemania 4. Afterward they teamed up at the first Summerslam and again at Survivor Series. They got into a beef with The Twin Towers, which culminated in a tag match at the February edition of The Main Event. During that match Savage was thrown out of the ring and landed on Elizabeth. Hogan carried Elizabeth to the back. Later in the match Savage refused to tag in and left Hogan alone. Afterward in the back Savage's jealous rage took off because THOSE EYES RIGHT THERE LUST ELIZABETH! Savage also proved he's 10 times the actor Hogan wished he could be. They fought all over the arena medical center and the feud was on.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan def "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) in 17:54- Elizabeth is out in a neutral corner. Savage has words with Elizabeth as soon as he hits the ring. Savage bails and stalls. Hogan pushes Savage across the ring off the lockup and Savage bails again. More jawing at Elizabeth as Savage gets back in. Savage works a headlock, Hogan gets out, Savage bails again. This time Hogan chases, and Savage goes to his old trick of using Elizabeth as a shield. Back in, Hogan uses a nice wresting sequence to get Savage down. He could do it when he wanted to. Savage suplexes out of it and hits the double ax handle off the top. Savage starts working Hogan's arm and pulling (what's left of) his hair to keep him down. Hogan responds by using Savage's tights to leverage him out of the ring. Savage counters a backdrop with a kick to the face, and he catches Hogan a bit stiff and busts him open a little above the eye. Hogan powers out of a chinlock. Savage hits the jumping knee in Hogan's back, pushing Hogan into the turnbuckles. Savage rolls him up and gets a handful of tights, but only gets two. Savage starts working the cut. He slaps Hogan, which just sets him off. Hogan bodyslams Savage over the top and down to the floor! Elizabeth runs over to check on Savage and help him up but Savage wants nothing to do with her. Savage pulls Hogan out and posts him. Hogan counters with ramming Savage's head into the apron (it's the hardest part of the ring, don't you know). Hogan hoists Savage up on his shoulder to lawn dart him into the post but Elizabeth blocks him. Savage wriggles out and posts Hogan again. Savage walks Elizabeth up the isle, and she leaves. Commentary says Hebner threw her out but we don't see that for sure. Savage hits the double ax handle down to the floor. Back in he starts working Hogan's throat with the top rope clothesline, knee drop, and blatant chokes. Savage goes up and hits the flying elbow almost three quarters of the way across the ring! Hogan kicks out at 2 and Hulks Up. 3 punches, big boot, legdrop and good night. The Hogan formula finish, but it hadn't been played out to death yet at this point. It's another Savage masterpiece, and one of if not Hogan's best match, at least in North America. ****1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- There's a lot to like here. The overall raw star ratings are probably the best for any Wrestlemania to this point, but the show as a whole doesn't quite come together like WM 3 did. Part of that is the crowd. Whether because of the arena acoustics, micing, or they were just plain not that loud, it's a very underwhelming sounding crowd for a Wrestlemania. A lot of people point to this show as the end of the boom period of the '80s and there's some truth in that, beyond the fact that is was the last WM of the '80s. Overall, you've got an all time classic main event, a good IC title match, a couple of other really good matches sprinkled in and only a small handful of a 14 match card not hitting at least the decent mark. It's not an absolute top tier WM, but it's just below that group.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+