Brooklyn Brawlin’ 5.27.09: Rebooting Wrestlemania IV With a Million Dollar Twist

Greetings. Another week goes by and it’s another landslide victory for Smackdown over Raw in the battle for brand supremacy. Smackdown featured not one, not two, but three 3-star matches with the 6-man Morrison/Cryme Tyme vs. Ortiz/TWGTT, Jericho/Punk, and the awesome main event of Edge vs. Hardy to pick the Extreme Rulz stipulation. It truly feels like a new dawn in WWE. On the other hand Raw was another awful show, in which Vince took his two most precious hours of television time and dedicated it to sending a big “FUCK YOU” to Stan Kroenke, owner of the Pepsi Center and Denver Nuggets. Well that was a major waste of time. An opening 15-minute intro that did nothing to promote anything, and then a bullshit 10-man main event with wrestlers in basketball jerseys. Vince, you have a ppv in over a week! The only redeeming quality of this show was the triple threat between Kofi, Regal and Matt Hardy which was really good and Kofi is really starting to showcase some talent. Next week, hopefully they give him and MVP a good chunk of time.

This week we are going to get back to the origins of this column, which was re-booking classic feuds, angles and matches that had left me baffled. Well thanks to comments from last week as well as my wrestling muse (WWE Classics on Demand), we are heading back to late 1987 and early 1988. Last week I focused on some of the most important matches in wrestling history, one of which was Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Honky Tonk Man from late 1987. That match triggered the start of the Mega-Powers and fueled over two years of storyline. Of course, Macho never regained the Intercontinental Title from Honky and depending on who you believe its because Honky held up Vince with threats of leaving with the title belt to the NWA. That altered the course of the future Wrestlemania IV WWE Title tournament where rumor was, Ted Dibiase was scheduled to go over Hulk Hogan and become WWE Champion. In fact, backing this up was the February 22nd, 1988 edition of WWE Primetime in which hosts Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “the Brain” showcase and actually made predictions on the original Tournament bracket. Also interestingly, I was never 100% sure that the E recognized Andre’s title reign, but former President Jack Tunney officially announced that Andre was a former champion before declaring the belt vacant. For your viewing pleasure now, here are the original brackets from the WM IV tournament:

Hulk Hogan
Andre the Giant
(2nd Round Bout)

Jake the Snake
Ravishing Rick Rude

Don Muraco
Dino Bravo

Ricky Steamboat
Greg Valentine

Macho Man
Butch Reed

One Man Gang
Bam Bam Bigelow

Ted Dibiase
Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Now these matches may seem familiar and that’s because these are the matches from the show. The difference is the order in the brackets. For instance Macho Man and Dibiase are both in the bottom half whereas the met in the finals in the actual bracket. So today, we go back to the spring of 1988, and we rebook Wrestlemania IV, the way it could have been. And by doing this we give one of the great heels of all time, a much deserved reign as World Champion.

THE ORIGINAL WRESTLEMANIA IV BRACKET + 1988’s BOOKING SHEET –

We will start in the first round. First off we change the ending and boredom of Jake vs. Rude. Instead of booking a 15-minute draw which featured nearly 10 minutes of a chinlock, Rude wins straight up in about 6-minutes by countering the DDT to a Flair-pin in the corner. This would not only send Rude into round 2, but ignite the Rude/Jake feud that went throughout 1988 with the whole Cheryl Roberts angle. We then keep the first round exactly the same, with Muraco over Bravo, Valentine over Steamboat, Macho Man over Reed, Gang over Bam Bam, and Dibiase over Duggan.

That sets up Round 2 –

Hulk Hogan
Andre the Giant

Ravishing Rick Rude
Don Muraco

Greg Valentine
Macho Man

One Man Gang
Ted Dibiase

Now we get into the massive changes. First off, Hogan and Andre now does not need a non-finish double DQ. However, a DQ would be used to both get Hogan into the semis and further the Mega Powers/Mega Bucks feud. Hogan delivers his famous body slam again (which he did after the DQ). He runs the ropes for the leg drop but Virgil hooks his leg causing the DQ. Virgil and Dibiase try to beat down Hogan but he fights them off only for Andre to attack from behind with head butts. Virgil brings in a chair and Andre goes to town on the ribs until Macho Man runs out to save. The damage is done and Hogan is injured for the rest of the night.

Ravishing Rick Rude cleanly pins “The Rock” Don Muraco with the Rude Awakening to get to face Hogan in the semis. Macho Man pins Valentine exactly how it happened at the show (Figure four reversal). In a brilliant move, Dibiase PAYS OFF the Gang and Slick to forfeit his match. He whispers something to Slick after the makes everyone very happy. This all pans out to the Final 4 –

Hulk Hogan
Ravishing Rick Rude

Macho Man
Ted Dibiase

Now there were plenty of matches to give them time here to build, with the 6-man (Bulldogs/Koko vs. Islanders/Heenan), and the IC Title match (Honky Tonk vs. Brutus the Barber). In the first semi-final Hogan gets past Rude with the usual, big boot and leg drop after Rude targeted Hulk’s injured ribs. In our second semi-final, a well-rested Ted Dibiase lays a beat down on Macho Man. Macho Man makes his comeback but Slick comes down and goes after Elizabeth. As Macho gets perched up top for the Flying Elbow he noticed Slick and gets distracted. This allows Dibiase to shove Savage off crotching him on the top rope and making him easy pickings to a pin.

After Demolition defeats Strike Force to become Tag Team Champions it sets up our finals –

Hulk Hogan vs. Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase –

With Hogan’s ribs hurt from the previous attacks and Dibiase relatively fresh the match is the usual one-sided Hogan affair, he dominates early before getting royally beaten on. Dibiase gets the Million Dollar Dream, but that signals the Hogan comeback. Hulk up, three punches, but the big boot sends Dibiase crashing into the referee. Suddenly One Man Gang and Butch Reed run down and try to jump Hogan. Savage runs down and brawls with the Slickster’s crew. He punches them off and boots Dibiase down and delivers the leg drop but the ref is still down. Andre walks down and tries to get involved but Hogan grabs him on the apron. Dibiase jumps him from behind with a big knee to the ribs and school boys him to win the WWE Title. Dibiase and Andre pose as the crowd sits in shock. The Mega Powers return to clear the ring and send the fans home somewhat happy. But in the end, Ted Dibiase is the WWE Champion!

SUMMERSLAM – 1988

The inaugural Summerslam was highlighted by the Mega Powers vs. Mega Bucks tag team match. Instead we begin a Summerslam staple of the double main event. In one main event, Hogan and Andre have the final showdown, one on one inside a Steel Cage. In the other event, Dibiase defends the title against Macho Man Randy Savage.

Hogan subdues Andre, slams him and ties him in the ropes. This allows Hogan to climb out and win. In the main event, The Mega Powers gain their revenge as Hogan stays in Savage’s corner to fend off Virgil, Andre, Gang, and anyone else. This match would play similar to the main event of Wrestlemania IV and of course Macho would walk out WWE Champion.

Andre the Giant would begin to feud with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jake the Snake at the end of 1988, while Dibiase began to feud with Hercules. Mean while the Mega Powers transitioned into a feud with the Twin Towers. This would all culminate at Survivor Series where the star studded main event would be – © Macho, Hogan, Hercules, Jake, & Hacksaw vs. Dibiase, Andre, Bossman, Akeem, & King Haku.

It would see the Mega Powers survive, however the Towers would be DQ’ed for excessive violence, which officially made them the Powers # 1 enemies. This would lead to the Main Event tag match that triggers the Mega Power explosion.

At the end of the day, we basically push back the entire year by a few months and the results are not that different, however one of the great heels ever, earns a much deserved title reign. After all, it was terrible having t sit through Million Dollar Man Version 2.0 (JBL) knowing that he had half the talent and got a nearly year long reign. If only his son had half the personality he did, he could be a huge star.

Till next week, have fun storming the castle!