With Wrestlemania 25 only a couple of weeks or so away, it’s time for me to resurrect my tradition of reviewing a past “big four” pay-per-view, and this time it’s a big one, a one night tournament held at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey to crown a new WWF Champion. Yep, we’re going back to 1988, and Wrestlemania IV, with the legendary team of Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon handling commentary duties.

The show begins with a battle royal, featuring the Hart Foundation, the Young Stallions, Sika, “Dangerous” Danny Davis, the Killer Bees, Bad News Brown, Sam Houston, the Rougeau Brothers, Ken Patera, “Outlaw” Ron Bass, the Junkyard Dog, the Bolsheviks, Hillbilly Jim, King Harley Race, and George “The Animal” Steele, with a big ass trophy up for grabs. It’s the usual kind of battle royal fare here, entertaining in it’s own way but a bit hard to follow when it begins, with all of those arms and legs flailing away. The final four were Paul Roma, Bret Hart, Junkyard Dog and Bad News Brown. News and the Hitman formed a brief alliance to take out the Dog, and after he was eliminated both men stood in the middle of the ring to celebrate, before Brown took Hart down with his ghetto blaster kick, dishing out more punishment before eventually throwing him over the top rope for the victory. This didn’t sit too well with the Hitman though, who got back into the ring and attacked Brown from behind, before taking out his frustrations on the massive trophy. Nothing like a good old fashioned double cross!

Then it’s on to the first round of the WWF title tournament. First up, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan against “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase, who is not only accompanied by his bodyguard Virgil, but by Andre the Giant as well. It’s you classic brawler v technician battle here. Duggan uses his fists to do the talking, while Dibiase counters with his superior technical skill. It’s a reminder to this particular writer just how good these guys were. Interference from Andre cost Duggan the match here, as the Giant grabbed Duggan’s leg just as he was about to deliver his football tackle. A big punch later and a knee from behind, and Dibiase got the pin to take him into the second round.

Up next, Dino Bravo, accompanied by Frenchy Martin, against “The Rock” Don Muraco, accompanied by “Superstar” Billy Graham. Muraco, of course, replaced Graham in the tournament, because the former champion was unable to compete because of injury. An interesting power v power battle here, which has a couple of dodgy moments at the beginning, sees the two big guys basically beating the hell out of each other, and with a somewhat controversial ending. After Bravo pulled the referee so he took a hit from Muraco, Bravo took his man out with his side slam finisher. But when the ref came to, he didn’t count the pin, he disqualified Bravo. Not a bad match here, but it was let down by the mistakes at the beginning.

The battle of the strongmen was followed by the battle of the technical wizards, with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, accompanied by Jimmy Hart, facing Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. A really good little match here between two of the top wrestlers of the time, with Valentine and Steamboat matching each other move for move. Countless false finishes throughout, before Valentine reversed Steamboat’s top rope body block, grabbed a handful of tights and got the winning pin. A very good match here, which many at the time would have considered something of an upset.

The action continued with “The Natural” Butch Reed, accompanied by his manager Slick, taking on “Macho Man” Randy Savage, accompanied, of course, by Elizabeth. It’s a battle of power against speed here, with the future Doom member controlling the match early on with his superior strength. Savage has a couple of moments, but it’s all Reed until he goes up to the top rope, momentarily distracted by Elizabeth. This gave Savage the time he needed to recover as he threw Reed off the top rope, then went upstairs himself to deliver his patented flying elbow. Not bad I suppose.

It’s the battle of the big men next, with the One Man Gang, Slick’s second man in the tournament, facing Bam Bam Bigelow, accompanied by his manager Oliver Humperdink. If you’re looking for an outstanding technical contest, then this isn’t the match for you. It’s two big guys with a combined weight of nearly eight hundred pounds beating away on each other, and it’s damn entertaining to watch, and a reminder of how good the late Bam Bam was back then. However, another controversial ending. As Bigelow was about to take the Gang out, Slick pulled down the top rope, with Bam Bam crashing down to the ringside area. The Gang then stopped him from getting back in, which lead to the referee counting him out. As I said before, entertaining, even if the ending was a little disappointing.

The final match of the first round saw  “Ravishing” Rick Rude, accompanied by his manager, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, going up against Jake “The Snake” Roberts. This was by far the best match of the first round, with two well matched guys at the top of their game. This match had everything, great psychology, great moves, and two of the greatest personalities in wrestling history. Sadly, the one thing this match didn’t have was a winner. After tons of great action, Rude looked like he was about to get the pin with his feet on the ropes, but just as the referee was making his three count, the bell rang. The announcement was then made that the time limit had expired. I don’t really need to go on again about how good this match was. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a winner!

So with the first round over, it’s on to non-tournament action, with Hercules, accompanied by Bobby Heenan, against the Ultimate Warrior, making his first Wrestlemania appearance. No hammerlocks here in this one folks, it’s just two big guys beating on each other. If you like brawls, then this is the match for you. It’s not pretty, but it’s effective, giving you the impression that these guys really hate each other. The old double pin was used at the end of this one. As Hercules tried to apply the full nelson, the Warrior pushed his feet off the ropes, and as both men went down to the mat, Hercules bridged, thinking that he could get the pin. However, he failed to notice the Warrior raising his shoulder as the referee counted to three. Herc wasn’t happy, and brought his chain into the ring, only for the Warrior to grab it off him, sending the Heenan family member running for cover.

Then it’s on to the quarter-finals of the tournament, with Andre the Giant, accompanied by Ted Dibiase and Virgil, taking on Hulk Hogan. The crowd went absolutely wild for this one, and although this one had been done at lengthy by this time, it still made for a good match, although it wasn’t nearly as good as their match at the previous Wrestlemania. Good action between the two men to begin with, but interference from Dibiase and Virgil saw a steel chair brought into the equation, with Hogan and Andre using it on each other. As Hogan chased Dibiase out of the arena, he then suplexed Virgil on the arena floor, before returning to ring to slam the Giant. However, by then it didn’t mean a thing, as the referee announced that both men had been disqualified and eliminated from the tournament.

The second quarter-final saw Don Muraco against Ted Dibiase, who came to the ring on his own this time. This didn’t sit too well with Dibiase, and Muraco took advantage early on, controlling Dibiase with some crisp looking power moves, but in the end Dibiase’s cunning came through, and after taking Muraco down with a stun gun-like move onto the top rope, Dibiase got the winning pin, earning himself a bye right through to the final.

With the One Man Gang having earned a bye to the semi-finals, it was on to the final quarter-final, Greg Valentine against Randy Savage. This match was almost all Valentine, as he took Savage apart from the outset. The Macho Man had a couple of brief flurries, but Valentine was soon able to gain control, thanks to a little distraction from Jimmy Hart. However, despite his dominance, Savage got the pin to take him through to the semi-finals, countering Valentine’s figure four attempt into a small package to earn a semi-final match against the Gang.

The first title match of the evening follows, with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake challenging the Honkytonk Man for the Intercontinental title. Old Honky is accompanied to the ring here by Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue, who is looking quite sensational here, if you know what I mean. You know, I used to really hate the Honkytonk Man back in the day. But then again, as he was a heel I suppose this means that he was just doing his job, and doing it well. Enjoyable stuff this, especially if, like me, you were a massive mark for the Barber all those years ago. Sadly, the Barber didn’t quite get the job done here. Having taken Honky out with his trademark sleeper hold (known as a rear naked choke these days), little Jimmy Hart clobbered the referee with his megaphone, knocking the poor guy out. All this did was infuriate the Barber. The Colonel, despite grabbing hold of Beefcake’s bag, got a haircut for his troubles. It didn’t get him the title though, although it got him a disqualification victory. Nothing like a good old fashioned haircut now, is there?

Then it’s on to tag-team action, with the Islanders and their manager, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, taking on the British Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware. Heenan, petrified by a certain mutt called Matilda, is wearing a dog protection suit thing here. Although not the best remembered match in their history, this was another example of how great Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid where as a team. The Islanders weren’t too bad either, but performance of the match must go to the Brain for his hilarious dog attack suit. Victory went to the bad guys in this one. After a brief multi-man brawl, a stunned Heenan was slammed onto Koko by Tama and Haku, earning his team the pinfall victory. The Brain was soon running for his life though, as the Bulldogs unleashed Matilda onto him as he ran up the aisle.

With Ted Dibiase having earned a bye to the tournament final, the only semi-final saw the One Man Gang face Randy Savage. The proverbial David v Goliath battle sees the Gang handle the Macho Man like a small child, before Savage used some neat hit and run tactics to take the big man down momentarily. However, the Gang’s use of Slick’s cane only served to earn him a disqualification, giving the Macho Man the place in the final against Dibiase. More nice stuff from Savage here. Boy was this guy good when he was in his prime.

The second title match of the evening follows, with Demolition, accompanied by their manager Mr. Fuji, challenging Strike Force for the Tag-Team Championship. This was one of those matches I was really looking forward to seeing again, mainly because I was a massive Demolition mark back in the day. Okay, they weren’t exactly a great technical team, but they had a great gimmick, and their style suited that gimmick. This match reminded me of how just poor the tag-team division in the WWE is these days. This is another great example of tag-team wrestling, between two teams well suited to each other. Tito Santana once again sold his heart out, which seemed to be his speciality back then in tag-team matches, with Rick Martel the perfect foil for his skills. However, the power of Ax and Smash, as well as Fuji’s cane, proved too much for the champions. As Martel applied the Boston Crab to Smash, and as the referee tried to stop Santana from clobbering Fuji, Ax came into the ring and clobbered Martel with his manager’s cane, before draping his stunned partner onto Martel for the title winning victory. A very good match was had by all in what was the beginning of the end for the Martel/Santana team.

Main event time, the WWF Championship tournament final, with Ted Dibiase, accompanied to the ring by Andre the Giant, taking on Randy Savage, accompanied by Miss Elizabeth. As the old saying goes, they saved the best for last, and this was, by far, the best match of the tournament. For the first time in the show, Savage seemed to be on an equal footing against an opponent, even though Andre interfered on Dibiase’s behalf a few times. Andre’s threat saw Savage sending Elizabeth to the back, where she returned to get some back-up of her own in the form of Hulk Hogan. The plan worked, as the Hulkster took care of the Giant when he tried to interfere, and clobbered Dibiase with a steel chair as he applied the Million Dollar Dream as the referee was distracted by Andre. A top rope elbow and a three count later, and Savage was the new WWF Champion in what was not only the best match of the tournament but the best match on the show.

In conclusion - although this show is now twenty-one years old, it still stands the test of time. The tournament, despite a few blown spots early on, was played out to perfection, with Randy Savage a worthy winner, although, looking back, it was pretty obvious that Hulk Hogan would have a part to play in the final outcome, despite the fact that he was eliminated from the tournament in the second round. As for the non-tournament matches, they were okay, but they clearly played second fiddle to the tournament. So in all, this is a very enjoyable show, and one I’d recommend to the old school fans who want to relive some classic Wrestlemania moments before the big twenty-fifth show in a couple of weeks.

With this year’s edition of WWE’s Royal Rumble just around the corner, I’m going to keep up my tradition of reviewing past editions of the “big four” pay-per-views by taking a look back at the 1990 version of the Royal Rumble, an event that saw the beginning of the build-up to one of the greatest matches in wrestling history.

But first, a little history lesson. This was actually the first WWF pay-per-view to air live here in Britain, although we didn’t have to pay for it as it aired on Sky One, which meant that we had to put up with awkward cuts for commercial breaks. It also meant that British viewers finally caught up with their American counterparts as far as the weekly television programmes went, having been over two months behind at one point the previous year. It also meant that, with a few exceptions, all the WWF pay-per-views aired live here in Britain, up until the introduction of the In Your House shows.

But enough of the history lesson, onto the show itself, with Tony Schiavone and Jesse “The Body” Ventura handling commentary. The Body is looking resplendent in his Mickey Mouse t-shirt and hat.

The show began with tag-team action, with the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, accompanied by their manager Jimmy Hart, taking on New Zealand’s finest, the Bushwhackers. I remember when this match was first announced I thought “what again?”, mainly because these two had previously faced each other at Wrestlemania V a few months earlier. It’s your basic comedy-style match here, with Luke and Butch pulling all the usual moves, infuriating the All-American boys, their manager, and the referee as well. The brothers looked good when they got their licks in, making me realise, once again, just how much Jacques and Raymond were as a team. But after Luke was doubled-up on for a while, the big break came when he countered Jacques big splash attempt by raising his knees. The mass brawl followed, with Jimmy Hart getting involved, before the cousins took both brothers out with their trademark battering ram, with Butch getting the winning pin on Jacques. This wasn’t that bad a match, certainly better than their Wrestlemania effort, and a good example of the Bushwhackers’ work, one of my favourite teams from the early 90’s.

Match two saw singles action, with Mr. Perfect’s advisor The Genius taking on Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. I was a massive mark for the Barber back then, so this was one match I was really looking forward to. This was an interesting match because, at the time, the former Leaping Lanny didn’t seem to wrestle that often on television, which was a shame considering his heritage and credentials. From the outset the Genius played the part of the heel to perfection, his prancing around the ring drawing from the likes of the great Gorgeous George and Adrian Street, and for me this is what made this match. Beefcake had his moments, but the Genius dominated for the most part, and when the referee took an accidental hit, the brainy one tried to go to work, but soon found himself in Beefcake’s sleeper hold. Moments later the Barber began to cut the Genius’ hair, until Mr. Perfect came charging down the aisle to save his buddy, eventually clobbering Beefcake with a chair until the referee brigade came running down to stop the fight. As for the match result, both men were disqualified. This, of course, led to the Perfect/Beefcake match-up at Wrestlemania VI.

Then came the match of the night, with “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin facing Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, accompanied by his manager Jimmy Hart, in a submission match. These two had quite a storied rivalry. Valentine had put Garvin out in a retirement match. Garvin became a referee, which eventually led to an altercation between the two after Garvin referred one of Valentine’s matches. The Hammer then lobbied for Garvin’s re-instatement, and when he returned, Garvin began to wear a leg brace similar to the one worn by Valentine, which the Hammer used to inflict more damage when he applied the figure four leg lock.

This was a great example of the perfect grudge match. From start to finish this was perfectly executed. Both wrestlers went for several pins, having to be reminded by the referee that they could only win by submission. The best moment came when Valentine applied the figure four, only for Garvin’s leg brace to protect him. The look on Garvin’s face as he taunted the Hammer spoke volumes. Moments later Jimmy Hart would remove Garvin’s leg brace after a clash of heads, giving Valentine the chance to apply a second figure four. That attempt ultimately failed, and eventually Garvin would take Valentine’s leg brace and use it himself, clobbering the Hammer with it before applying what the announcers called a reverse figure four, but what we know today as the sharp shooter. Seconds later Valentine was submitting, giving the victory to Garvin, and ending a tremendous match, possibly one of the most under-rated matches in wrestling history.

Chat show time next, with Brother Love, perhaps the most annoying man in WWE history, hosting a segment with Sensational Queen Sherri, manager of “Macho King” Randy Savage, and Dusty Rhodes’ manager, Sapphire. This was basically the set-up to their mixed tag match at Wrestlemania. Basically, Sherri bad mouthed Sapphire, Sapphire clobbered Sherri, before both Rhodes and Savage came to sort things out. After security separated them, Brother Love insulted the American Dream, which was enough for Rhodes to take out his frustrations on the red faced one.

The final singles match followed, with the Big Boss Man, accompanied by his manager Slick, owner of one of the greatest entrance themes ever, taking on “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. These two had met in a six man match at Summerslam a few months before, Duggan teaming with Demolition while the Boss Man was with his Twin Towers partner Akeem and Andre the Giant. This would prove to be one of the Boss Man’s last matches as a heel during his first WWF run, as he turned face shortly afterwards after refusing to take a bribe from “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase.

This was basically a brawl between the two big men. Duggan was, as always, Duggan, while the Boss Man looked to be in the best shape of his career, having recently dropped a ton of weight. It won’t go down as a classic, but it will go down as entertaining. While the Boss Man threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Duggan, old Hacksaw wouldn’t stay down, his brawling tactics proving to be effective. Eventually the weapons came into play. Boss Man’s use of the nightstick earned him a disqualification, giving the victory to Duggan. Duggan then grabbed his trusty two-by-four, and clobbering the Boss Man from behind, The enraged law enforcer retaliated by throwing a chair into the ring, only for Duggan to sit in the chair and let out his trademark chant. This certainly won’t be one for the purists, but it was damn entertaining nonetheless.

Main event time, the Royal Rumble match itself. With Jim Duggan having already competed, and “Big” John Studd having left the company, it meant that a new winner would be crowned. The first two men in the match were Ted Dibiase, who bribed his way to get the number thirty spot the previous year, and Koko B. Ware. Old money bags quickly took care of the Birdman, as well as number three, Marty Janetty, but got the surprise of his life when his long-time nemesis, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, entered at number five. When “Macho King” Randy Savage came in at number six, that was when the action really began. The likes of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, The Warlord, Bret “Hitman” Hart, Bad News Brown and Dusty Rhodes soon followed as the action came thick and fast, with eliminations following at regular intervals. There were even disagreements at ringside between the managers, with Bobby Heenan and Mr. Fuji almost going at it after Andre the Giant eliminated the Warlord. Controversy soon followed though. After Piper eliminated Bad News, Brown got back onto the ring apron and pulled Piper out of the ring. This lead to a wild brawl all the way backstage, and also lead to their match at Wrestlemania VI.

But while the action was great, things got really interesting with the arrival of the Ultimate Warrior at number twenty-one, and Hulk Hogan at twenty-five. Upon the Hulkster’s arrival, both superstars quickly eliminated the rest of competition. And that’s when it happened. With the crowd going crazy, the two biggest stars in the WWF at the time squared off for the first time. It was great to watch back then, especially as we had no idea what this would ultimately lead to. Things were spoiled a little though when the Barbarian, and later Rick Rude, came down to the ring. A few moments later, Hogan eliminated the Warrior.

Eventually, it got down to the final two - Hogan and Mr. Perfect, who had drawn, as he put it, “the perfect number”. Hogan and Perfect feuding at the time, although they never had that big television or pay-per-view match. After Hogan had eliminated Rick Rude, Perfect battered Hogan before taking him down with the perfect-plex, which Hogan inevitably kicked out from. After hulking up, Hogan cleaned house, eliminating Perfect to add the Royal Rumble to his list of achievements, and to end what was a very good match. What really made it for me back then was seeing tag-team specialists take on singles stars, at a time when the WWF kept those two divisions separate. It was also good to see heels against heels, and baby faces against baby faces. Then, of course, there was that confrontation.

In conclusion - while watching this it dawned on me - all of this took place nineteen years ago. I was just eighteen years old when I first saw this show, and I’ve only seen it a couple of times since then. This was the first Royal Rumble I ever saw, and will always be special to me. The matches were great, and it was good to see some of the great talent that the wrestling world had to offer back then. If, like me, you’re a sucker for wrestling history, then I would highly recommend the 1990 version of the Rumble. As the old saying goes, you won’t be disappointed.

With this year’s Survivor Series just a few days away, I’m going to carry on with the tradition I stared a while back by reviewing a past big four show, by going back in time twenty-one years to the very first Survivor Series, held on Thanksgiving Day in 1987. The legendary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura are behind the microphone for this one.

The show begins with the Honkytonk Man’s team, featuring “King” Harley Race, Hercules, “Dangerous” Danny Davis, and “Outlaw” Ron Bass, against “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s team of Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Even though I’ve never seen this show before, this match immediately brought back fond memories of some of the stars I watched and enjoyed all those years ago. The action here was top notch from start to finish, and even though there were some cuts, it didn’t spoil my enjoyment. In the end it came down to three-on-one, Savage, Roberts and Steamboat against Honkytonk, and after the Intercontinental Champion took a ton of punishment, he bolted for the door, getting counted out in the process and giving the victory to Savage’s team.

Match two saw the women in action, with The Glamour Girls, Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello and Sensational Sherri taking on Velvet McIntyre, Rockin’ Robin, The Jumping Bomb Angels and Fabulous Moolah. It made for a refreshing change to hear two commentators that didn’t constantly refer to the women’s vital statistics. Comparing the women’s action here to that of the current Divas division would be, as the old Bobby Heenan saying goes, like comparing ice cream to horse manure. The action here was terrific, with Sherri the standout in this match. My one criticism of this match would be about messrs Monsoon and Ventura, who didn’t do their research this well, especially as they didn’t seem to know the individual names of the Jumping Bomb Angels, which was particularly vexing as they were the second best thing in this match. Eventually it got down to the two tag-teams, the Angels against the Glamour Girls, with the Japanese team taking out Judy Martin and Leilani Kai in quick succession. Two good matches in a row here guys!

Then it’s on to the tag-team Survivor Series match, with Demolition, The New Dream Team, The Islanders, The Hart Foundation, and The Bolsheviks against The British Bulldogs, The Young Stallions, The Rougeaus, The Killer Bees, and Strike Force. The rules for this match were slightly different - if one member of a team got eliminated, then their partner had to go as well. Now, this is another example of how different the WWE of today is, and mainly because the WWE tag-team division of today is so damn poor. There’s ten great teams in this match, going all out in a great display to achieve victory, and it was a joy to behold, although it was hard to see what was going on at times because there were so many men involved in this one (which is why they used a camera crane for the same match the following year). There’s no real standout performances here, because each and every performance here is great. Two teams came out on top on this one, as B. Brian Blair, doing the old switcheroo with the mask on, pinned Tama of the Islanders to win the match, leaving the Killer Bees and the Stallions as the survivors.

Main event time, with Andre the Giant’s team, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, “The Natural” Butch Reed, and the One Man Gang, against Hulk Hogan’s team, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, “The Rock” Don Muraco, and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. The crowd went absolutely wild during this one, which wasn’t surprising because this was at the height of Hulkamania. As with the previous matches, this one was filled with great action from start to finish, with the main focus being on the return of the Giant after Hogan defeated him at Wrestlemania III. It was kind of awe aspiring to see Andre, the Gang and Bundy on the same team, three of the best big men professional wrestling has ever seen. There were some really good performances in this one, particularly from Bigelow, although Andre, whose health problems were starting to take their toll on him by this stage of his career, spent a great deal of the match on the ring apron. Surprisingly, Hogan wasn’t the sole survivor here, as he was counted out while brawling with Bundy and the Gang, leaving Bigelow against the three evil behemoths. Bam Bam managed to take out Bundy after a slingshot splash over the top rope, and the Gang after the big man missed a top rope splash, but he couldn’t defeat Andre, who took Bigelow out after a double under hook suplex. Things didn’t end there though, as Hogan returned to the ring to clobber the Giant and chase him away. Well, I suppose you couldn’t end a WWF pay-per-view in those days without a Hogan pose down, could you?

In conclusion - this is actually the first time I’ve seen this show, and I wasn’t disappointed. Although some would consider these particular matches to be somewhat overlong, I enjoyed them immensely, and from start to finish, I wasn’t disappointed. The action was good, and it was also good to see some of the greats of wrestling’s past in action again, and as this is available as a tagged classic here (along with the 1988 Survivor Series, which I’ll review next year) in Britain (and probably via a torrent somewhere), I recommend that you try and see this show for yourselves, because, if, like me, you’re an old school kind of guy, you won’t be disappointed.