It is hard to remember when exactly my first experience of wrestling was. Brief glimpses of memory pinpoint moments where wrestling was just part of my life and accepted as such. I’d sit down and watch World Superstars of Wrestling (dubbed New Japan) on Eurosport with my Dad; people bought me wrestling figures for birthdays and Christmases; VHS tapes of evens ended up on the storage shelves in my house.
I suppose it is because of two things. Firstly, my Dad had watched wrestling when he was younger. Whilst in no means a fan, he wasn’t averse to watching the odd match here and there. Secondly, there was the opportunity to watch wrestling without needing to have a satellite dish at this time. Alongside the aforementioned Eurosport (which we got through a cable box), around 1992 saw WCW wrestling during the afternoon on terrestrial television. Sitting somewhere before programmes that I would watch such as You Bet and Baywatch (as a young child, I actually enjoyed it for its storyline merit) and give me an hour of wrestling every Saturday.
I was, however, not a WCW fan in the same way that I was a fan of WWF. The toys and the VHS tapes took up the bulk of my wrestling fandom and they were all WWF. In particular, I remember having two tapes that were on all the time, watched through the eyes of a naïve child before he knew ideas about star ratings and workrate – Wrestlemania IV and Wrestlemania VI. Neither show is looked back upon particularly fondly, though each has their notable moment that stands the test of time: Macho Man winning the WWF Heavyweight Championship at IV, Ultimate Warrior beating Hulk Hogan at VI. However, it was IV that was the one that excited me the most; it was IV that was the one that I looked back on with the rosiest of rose tinted spectacles.
Even just the box for Wrestlemania IV was exciting. Unlike all of the other WWF shows that I could rent out of my local Blockbuster, the show was so large that they needed TWO VHS tapes to cram it all in (famously, the split in the show occurred mid Andre versus Hogan for some reason). The box folded out to give you not only a picture of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, but a list of all of the action that was due to come the moment you put in the tape. Like a lot of wrestling videos from this era of wrestling, many would go on to become WWF Hall of Famers as the roster truly read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of wrestling.
The Trump Plaza was an awful place to hold a wrestling event, comped tickets to high rollers meaning the atmosphere was never really good enough for the biggest show of the year. For me though, I was sold from the opening Battle Royal that saw Bad News Brown double cross Bret Hart, only for Hart to come back in and smash up the huge trophy that Brown had just won. The simplicity of it spoke to the child in me – there were good guys and bad guys, and sometimes bad guys will try and get one over on you. The eye for an eye nature of the trophy smashing wasn’t necessarily something I took to heart, but it was a cool visual nonetheless.
There’s nothing like a wrestling tournament booked well and Wrestlemania IV was nothing like a wrestling tournament booked well, yet there’s something about brackets and eliminations that excites most wrestling fans. The permutations and configurations of who might go on to face whom adds a layer of interest that can carry you through even some of the ropiest moments in a show.
By God, there were some ropey moments. Admittedly injured coming into the show, Bam Bam Bigelow getting counted out against the One Man Gang was a mess. Whoever decided to have Rick Rude and Jake Roberts go fifteen minutes with over half of the match involving rest holds should’ve been fired. Even I realised at my young age how bad that match was. Also, with a potential Randy Savage versus Ricky Steamboat rematch in Round Two, we got Savage versus Greg Valentine instead, a wrestler who doesn’t necessarily appeal to you until you get a little bit older than I was at the time.
One of the big sells of the show was the Wrestlemania III re-match between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan in Round Two. A year removed from a time when he was already in a lot of pain, Andre didn’t have much to offer in terms of in-ring action outside of his presence. However, from a storyline perspective, Andre’s involvement and the subsequent double disqualification with Hogan – even though it was Hulk who used a chair first – left the tournament wide open, particularly for Andre’s close associate, Ted Dibiase.
In an alternative reality, Dibiase won the Wrestlemania IV tournament, a booking decision that allowed Randy Savage to chase the gold before a returning Hogan took what had become almost his rightful place at the top of the card. This never came to pass, though in falling by the wayside it provided perhaps the one thing that Wrestlemania IV unquestionably got right – the elevation of Randy Savage.
Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang, Ted Dibiase; all four provided the backdrop through which Savage went from a popular babyface to the WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Accompanied by Miss Elizabeth and swapping attire for every contest, Savage felt special on a show that struggled against the relative apathy of the clientele and the logistics of the venue itself.
It is debatable as to whether the WWF booked a year in advance in terms of Wrestlemania feuds and main events, but the finish to the WWF Championship match – Hogan hitting Dibiase with a chair to set up a Savage win – as well as the overly friendly overtures of Hogan towards Elizabeth in the celebration set into motion the Mega Powers and their eventual explosion.
Outside of the tournament and the aforementioned Battle Royal, notable results saw Ultimate Warrior beat Hercules before breaking his chain, before Demolition defeated Strike Force to begin their record breaking WWF Tag Team Championship reign. Alongside this showcase of stars of years to come, a six-man tag match that saw Bobby Heenan wearing a full attack dog costume due to the presence of Matilda also saw him pick up the pin on Koko B. Ware as he joined the Wild Samoans against Ware and the British Bulldogs.
There have been many Wrestlemania shows that have come and gone, with many providing a significantly better product then that which was seen at Wrestlemania IV. However, the naiveté of youth and the nostalgic memories which the show produces will always mean that it retains a place in my heart above and beyond any of the other editions. The only one that comes close is Wrestlemania VI…but VI doesn’t have a tournament so it can’t be better. The simple logic of a child sometimes cannot be overruled.
