User Reviews

*SPOILERS*





This was the first WrestleMania with a majority of at least solid matches. Shawn Michaels stood out, being the only heel to win. The Martel-Tatanka match should have been longer. And with the Disasters- Money Inc. match, they "Pulled a WCW" by making the heavily favored team lose (or in this case, win but not in a matter to win the title), then have them win the belts later at a tv taping.

But the rest of it was great. Randy Savage eclipsed his WMIII match here against Ric Flair. Savage might be the best all-around wrestler ever, followed closely by Sting. I thought the Owen Hart-Skinner match was a hoot. Skinner will someday get Brooklyn Brawler and Johnny Rodz status as one of the greatest jobbers ever. And the Ultimate Warrior's return was a total surprise for those of us who saw it happen as it unfolded. This alone would have made it worth the price, but The Undertaker vs. Roberts, Savage vs. Flair, and Piper vs. Hart made this one the best at the time.

WrestleMania 8 thoughts

WrestleMania 8 took place on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. Attendence was said to be at 62,167. This would set out to be the record for the now-demolished stadium. This PPV was known to be the first PPV in the history of the company to have two "main events". Yeah.....like we can have two main events. The Major rivalries that were mainly focus on was Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice. Flair vs. Savage despite being for the WWF Championship was specifically on another thing as Ric Flair claimed to be with Savage's wife Elizabeth before Savage ever meet her. Hogan went against Sid in a TBH, just a simple jealousy storyline that they felt like they needed to push Sid. Other undercards of the PPV included Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Championship, Undertaker vs. Jake Roberts, and Tito Santana vs. Shawn Michaels.

The Good - For a while, I had a hard time deciding whether Savage vs. Flair was the best match or Piper vs. Hart but I decided Savage vs. Flair was more amazing. Both matches were amazing. Savage vs. Flair told a huge story and was the most intense thing about this WrestleMania. Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart at the time really showed what Bret had in him to be the future top star that he became. Credit to Roddy for putting him over. I would have taken either of these matches as the main event. Undertaker vs. Jake Roberts was another excellent match as it was Jake's final match in the company before leaving to WCW and he did great putting the Deadman over. Speaking of over the Undertaker was definitely that with the crowd and this storyline caused as major turn as he went from heel to face due to the cheers. Opening between Tito and HBK was a good opening for the show. Really digged Shawn's music with Sherri singing.

The Meh - TBH nothing. Matches after Savage/Flair could have been better. I mean Tatanka vs. Martel was okay but no match is interesting to rewatch after the classic.

The Bad - Hogan vs Sid. Boring as hell and a good pop for a return of the Ultimate Warrior but the ending really should have been something for the middle of the show. Savage vs. Flair with two better wrestlers, both as big of draws as Hogan, and battling for the WWF Championship was clearly a better idea. They stole the show and the crowd wasn't as good in the main event match as they were in the WWF Championship match

Overall - A good show honestly with 2 solid title matches and a fun set of undercard matches to rewatch. This show could have had a higher rating if the card was switched up and not for the bad Hogan vs. Sid Justice match. Sid Justice in my opinion is not that good of a performer honestly.

Score - 7 out of 10: Good

0 = Terrible: 1 = Bad/Lackluster: 2 = Decent: 3 = Good: 4 = Awesome: 5 = One of the best of all time:

1. Tito Santana vs. Shawn Michaels - 3/5

2. Jake Roberts vs. Undertaker - 3/5

3. Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper: Intercontinental Championship - 4/5

4. Sgt. Slaughter, Big Boss Man, Virgil, and Jim Duggan vs. Repo Man, Moutine, and Nasty Boyz - 2.5/5

5. Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage: WWE Championship - 5/5

6. Tatanka vs. Rick Martel - 2/5

7. Natural Disasters vs. Money Inc: World Tag Team Championship - 1.5/5

8. Owen Hart vs. Skinner - Not worth rating

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice - 1/5

Best Match - Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair

Worst Match - Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice

Most Memorable Moment - Flair disrespectfully kissing Elizabeth. That was funny. I love Flair

Top 5 Performers

1. Ric Flair

2. Randy Savage

3. Bret Hart

4. Rowdy Piper

5. Undertaker.

Wrestlemania 8 marked the time when a number of old school wrestlers would take part. Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts and Sgt. Slaughter would never wrestle again during this era. The company would never be the same again. In a sense, one is left wondering what might have been due to a couple of matches being changed. The original main event was meant to have been Hogan vs Flair in a title match. The two wrestlers had been working in a series of house matches from October 1991 til March 1992. The reason why the planned main event at Wrestlemania 8 was changed has never quite been determined. It could be down to different reasons: the house matches not doing very well and apparently Hogan not willing to lose to Flair. I heard though that Hogan was meant to have regained the title at Wrestlemania. Macho Man stepping in was ideal as he was a worthy title holder. The match he and Flair had generated much heat and was a tense battle. The other half of the main event was a let down. Sid Justice was never the best worker, he was stiff and limited and it shows here. The match he had with Hogan was slow and had no excitement. Roddy Piper defending his I.C title against Bret "Hitman" Hart is the best match on the card. For once, blood was used as Hart managed to cut himself without Vince McMahon catching on. Ric Flair on the other hand, was caught and fined for doing the same. The tag team title match was ok but nothing special. The Natural Disasters were enjoying their run as a babyface team as they were dumped by Jimmy Hart in favour of their opponents, Money Inc. The other matches are good. The Undertaker settled his feud with Jake "the Snake" Roberts in a grudge match. Very enjoyable. Tatanka as a new arrival had a decent match against The Model Rick Martel. The eight man tag team match was both good as well as funny! Owen Hart vs Skinner was almost non-existent. There were plans to have The British Bulldog take on The Berzerker but there wasn't enough time. Shawn Michaels was getting his big push as a singles wrestler as he went up against El Matador. A great match. Marty Jannetty was meant to have been Michaels's opponent but he was under house arrest at the time and was suspended from the company. A great crowd turned up for this classic event as about 70,000 filled the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan provided some outstanding commentary as always.

Well the big story here is that there wasn't much of a story. Most of the big matches here stemmed from the Royal Rumble a couple of months earlier. Sid and Hogan had screwed each other at the end of the Rumble match and so here they had a retirement match. In truth Sid had just been suspended and Hogan was going to make a movie.

Flair had won the WWE Championship at the Rumble and was being challenged by the Macho Man Randy Savage. Why Savage got the shot, I can't recall. I'll explain the rest as I go through the sensibly short card of just 8 matches, compared to between 12 and 16 at earlier Wrestlemanias.

The night started off with Shawn Michaels defeating El Matador (Tito Santana) in a fast paced opener. Solid way to start.

Next up came The Undertaker vs Jake Roberts. THe Undertaker had been in cahoots with the evil Roberts for most of late 1991, early 1992, but had turned on him, becoming a good guy. Here Undertaker would complete his emancipation with a fairly decisive victory. Not a great match, but a great build.

This was followed by Bret hart defeating Roddy Piper in a good match to regain the Intercontinental Championship. Hart had lost the IC Title to The Mountie (Jacques Rougeau) in January, who had promptly lost the title to Piper. So, out of fairness Hart was given the title shot here. Hart was cut open during the match, which was a big no no at the time as the WWE didn't like bleeding in their matches. But It had been an accident so Hart escaped punishment.

Next up it was eight man tag action and it was the good guys The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jim Duggan defeating The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), Repo Man, and The Mountie in a short match.

This led us to the first part of our Double Main Event, the WWE Championship match between Ric Flair and Randy Savage. These were two of the finest wrestlers of 1980s and they had a terrific match here. The story going in was Flair had told everyone that before Savage's wife Miss Elizabeth had married him she'd been one of the lucky girls to ride space mountain. Savage kicked Flair's ass at the start of the fight, but Flair took control, working Savage's knee. Savage was able to overcome Flair to win the match with a roll up pin and become a two time WWE Champion. Flair beat down Savage after the match. Flair/ Savage was one of the more intense and believable rivalries seen in the WWE to that point. Flair cut himself open in the match, unlike Hart it wasn't an accident and Flair was fined. This was awesome stuff.

Next up Tatanka continued his winning streak with a quick win over Rick Martel. Money Inc (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R Shyster) lost their tag team title to the Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) in a fun match. Owen Hart then destroyed the Bushwackers offsider Skinner.

Finally came our main event with Sid Justice taking on Hulk Hogan in a retirement match. The ending descended into farce after Hogan hit the leg drop. Now, as legend has it Pap Shango was supposed to run out to the ring at this point, break up the count and hit Hogan, drawing a DQ. But Papa missed his cue so Sid kicked out and improvised, no selling some shots by HOgan and then getting himself DQ'd. Another theory is that Sid had been suspended and deliberately wrecked the ending to the match. But anyway, the match wasn't good. But it gets better as The Ultimate Warrior runs down to the ring. The Warrior is back!!!!! Some more chaos ensues and it's difficult to see just why the WWE ever thought that a confusing ending like this was better to close the show than a fan favourite in Savage winning the title off a hated bad guy in Flair. But that's what happened.

Overall this was a great show, with a lot of entertaining matches, a huge moment with the Warrior returning, and three title changes. No complaints from me.

So what lay in store for Savage and the defeated Flair? What would the WWE be like with no Hogan? And just what was the Ultimate Warrior going to do now he was back. Onward to Summerslam 1992 for the answers.

What's that stupid thing with anthem on each Wrestlemania? Never understand that bullshit.

1. El Matador (formerly known as Tito Santana :( ) Vs. First PPV appearance of "Sexy boy" Shawn Michaels - Crowd nice cheered for Tito, but like always Tito was booked to job. Otherwise average match. 6/10

2. Jake Roberts Vs. The Undertaker - Well, I don't like kick-out from Finisher move. 6/10

3. Intercontinental Championship: LOL Champ: Pajpa Vs. Bret Hart - Bad wrestle-skilled Piper is IC Champ? That's joke. At least he lost it at hardly average match. Pathetic ending inc. 5.5/10

4. Big Stiff Man/Hackidiot Duggan/Virgil/Slaughter Vs. Nasty Boys/The Mountie/Repo man (laugh hard) - Totally miss punch from Big Stiff Man in third minute, God this was one terrible wrestler. And another totally screwed counter to the tights on Repo man! LOL. Bossman get out of Wrestlemania to the house show. In one part, referee counts too fast so Sags didn't come to break pin in time, and Virgil waited like an idiot, so referee stop counting XD. This was ugly, UGLY match. 3.5/10

5. WCW (XD) Champ: Ric Flair Vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage - Another low atomic drop. Otherwise, classic from these two. New Champ. 5.5/10

6. Tatanka Vs. Rick Martel - Tatanka :DDDDD ROFL Quick and nothing special 5/10

7. Tag Team Championship: Natural Disasters vs. Champs-The Million Dollar Man/I.R.S. DQ ending. 5.5/10

Please not that dumb ass Beefcake (With new-dyed mullet AAARRGGHH)

8. Skinner Vs. Owen Hart Minute and half match, sometimes I like it. 6/10

9. Hulk Hogan Vs. Sid Justice - At beginning they let Hogan's Real American Music play until the end though match started... Ring belled after he tore up his T-shirt. Hmm. Again, basic moves, nothing special. Maybe Sid's Chokeslam or Power bomb does worth for. DQ and WARRIOR AGAIN?!? This can not be 4.5/10

Whilst this event wasn't enjoyable as the previous seven events it was still a fair event.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS) The good matches were The Undertaker burying the wicked Jake "The Snake" Roberts (who was hugely popular one year earlier). The Natural Disasters had a reasonable match with the cowardly Money Inc. And Bret Hart tore the house down in his brutal match with Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Tatanka VS Rick Martel was below average and the same can be said for Shawn Michaels VS El Matador which was too short a match to showcase their abilities. Macho Man VS Ric Flair was okay.

The main event pitted Hulk Hogan VS Sid Justice. This was supposed to be Hogan's retirement match (but wrestlers never really retire). We got to see the usual Hogan type of match which was entertaining in it's own way. The only disappoinment was the ending. It would have been nice to see Hogan get a clean pinfall over Justice. However, it was great to see the return of the charismatic Ultimate Warrior who in my opinion is so entertaining and has great music. Little did I know that the Warrior would leave the WWF in a mere 7 months.

The really great things about events like this is that you never know what to expect. One year later Hogan would return at WrestleMania IX and the WWF Champion would be a certain Bret Hart. How things change eh?

They could have done so much better. There were only a few good points about this event. Like it was Undertaker's first big match as a babyface and Jake's last match and it served it's purpose. Piper did a great job putting Bret over. Savage and Flair was a great feud and they had a great match here and after when Elizabeth beats up Flair you'll laugh your head off. Everything else was forgettable but the thing that sticks out is Sid should have definetely gone into the match with Hogan as the face and Hogan the heel because Hogan was selfish it's only logical.

Good for Sid for not laying down to the legdrop and Shango/Warrior was kinda pointless.