WWF Wrestlemania VIII 4/5/1992

 WWF Wrestlemania VIII 4/5/1992

We are at The Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon are commentary and welcome us to the show. Heenan is looking around for the giant centerfold of Miss Elizabeth that Mr. Perfect promised. Gorilla tells him not to start.

Reba McIntyre sings the national anthem.

El Matador vs Shawn Michaels

Shawn just turned heel in the last 2 months and picked up Sherri, who was with Ted Dibiase. Shawn has already said he wanted the winner of Hart/Piper and I think it's pretty obvious he will win here.

Shawn pokes him in the chest and is shoved. Tito hits a flying crossbody for 2. They shove each other and Tito side headlocks him. Shawn hits punches then is lariated over the top. Sherri then runs to go check on Shawn.

Shawn hits corner spears and punches him. Shawn goes up and over and hits more punches. Shawn tries it again and is punched. Tito side headlocks him for a while. Tito headlocks him and side headlocks him again. 

Tito is thrown out and Shawn backbreakers him. Tito runs into a superkick from Shawn. Tito hits some punches, hits a flying forearm and sends Shawn out. Shawn's head is banged off the steps.

Tito slingshot shoulderblocks him and hulks up. Tito hits punches then knee lifts him. Tito atomic drops him and hits a flying forearm to the back of the head. Shawn goes out. Tito tries to suplex him in but Shawn holds onto the ropes and ends up pinning him as he falls on him.

Thoughts: This was too slow. The first half of this was all chinlocks and headlocks which wasn't super interesting and wasn't suited for an opening match. The latter part of this got better though. The finish kind of seemed botch as Shawn couldn't keep hold of the ropes on the finish.

Mean Gene interviews The Legion of Doom on the stage. Hawk likely failed a drug test leading to their untelevised tag title loss and they haven't been seen on TV for a while since then. They were almost assuredly going to be on this card had that not happened. The LOD have Paul Ellering with them, who is appearing on WWF TV for the first time.

Paul says he's the bad apple who put The LOD together. He says ability made them the greatest tag team of all time and says honor formed their bond. He says revenge unites them. He says this is the beginning of the end. He says he has not come to get rich but to get even.

Animal says they looked adversity in the face and beat everyone. Animal says Jimmy Hart cheated their own team in The Natural Disasters. Animal says they will get revenge on them and stop at nothing. Animal asks how Money Inc will feel when the crowd is chanting LOD at them.

Hawk says they have been a runaway train with no one driving it. Hawk says that's scary but it's scarier now as we see who is driving the train. Hawk says the missing piece of the puzzle is complete and the last link of the chain makes them whole again. Hawk says their hearts lay with the fans. Paul says every team asks if the going up is worth the going down. Paul says they earn their money by beating people for it. Paul says when his boys are very good, but when they are bad, they are very bad. Paul says he's the procurator of destruction. He says he is the small detail the separates the good from the great and says the small details will take them back to the tag titles that belong to them. Animal says they don't care who are the champs, they won't let anyone down. 

Thoughts: The LOD is back after being out for a few weeks. The LOD don't really need Paul as they can both talk good enough but I guess it makes sense that they grabbed him since they are on the comeback trail.

Sean Mooney interviews Jake Roberts. Sean asks if Jake plans to bring a snake to the ring. Jake brings up that Jack Tunney recently banned snakes from being brought to the ring. We see clips of Jake trapping Taker's hand in a casket at The Funeral Parlor. He says he was just having fun. He says the biggest and strongest man doesn't always win, but the smartest and coldest man does. He says he set the trap for Taker and got a helpless Taker. We then see Jake hitting Taker with a ddt. He asks what Taker will do when he ddt's him. Jake says he will drive Taker's head through the mat and put the final nail in his coffin.

The Undertaker vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Taker basically just turned face against Jake after being his buddy for months. Taker is 1-0 at Mania.

Taker misses lunges at Jake then Jake punches him. Jake hits punches but gets nowhere. Jake punches Taker over the top but Taker lands on his feet. Taker punches Jake outside and sends him into the post. Jake hits more punches. Taker chokes him in the corner.

Taker chokes Jake again right in front of the ref. Heenan rightfully calls out the ref not doing anything about it. Taker elbow drops Jake. Taker hits a flying clothesline. Jake ddt's Taker and Taker sits right up. Taker grabs Jake by the throat and Jake knees him in the gut. Jake short arm clotheslines Taker and Taker sits up.

Jake hits another ddt. Jake stupidly goes after Paul while Taker is down. Taker then gets up. Jake punches Paul then Taker tombstones Jake on the floor. Taker then pins Jake inside.

Thoughts: It was an unusual match. They definitely tried to put Taker over as a force here with him getting up from ddt's. The crowd wasn't good for this and didn't really know what to make of it as Taker had recently turned face but clearly isn't your typical babyface. I just thought it was so so but it did put over that Taker is a freak of nature. 

Mean Gene interviews Roddy Piper and Bret Hart together.  Piper says he loves Bret's family and knew him since he was baby. He talks about Bret's potty training and says he remembers his mom making sandwiches. Piper pinches Bret's cheek and Bret stops him. Piper gets mad, saying he's trying to put him at ease and Bret is trying to be a hot shot. Bret says he only cares about the IC Title and he hits it. Piper gets mad and shoves him. Bret says they can do this right here and Piper says he wants to see a million people rip his head off. They go to punch each other but Piper has his belt wrapped around his fist and Bret backs off.

Thoughts: This was a good segment here that set the stage for what's to come with two friends coming to blows.

WWF Intercontinental Title - "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (c) vs Bret "The Hitman" Hart

This had a weird run-up to it. Bret lost his title out of nowhere to The Mountie on a house show. Mountie immediately lost the title to Piper and then they set this up. The rumor was that Bret was going to WCW with the title and the WWF tried to stop it. They did do a good job of getting the story over though and already established that Shawn Michaels is likely fighting the winner.

They stare down then lock up. Piper armdrags Bret then Bret armdrags him. Bret throws Piper out then Piper gets in and they shove each other. They trade wristlocks. Bret hits shots to the arm. Piper hits chops then Bret pulls him down by the arm.

Bret running dropkicks him and Bret holds his shoulder. Piper stops looking and Bret tries to cradle him. Piper slaps him for it. Bret shoves him. Bret crossbodies him over the top though they get stuck some.

Piper holds the ropes open for Bret. They stare down. Piper tells Bret to check his shoe then he punches him in the face. Piper stomps on Bret and hits punches. Bret's head is banged off the buckles. Piper bulldogs him.

Piper bites Bret and Bret gets busted open. Piper knee lifts Bret for 2. Bret sunset flips him for 2 then Piper hits punches to the face. They trade shots and Bret running forearms him out of the ring. Piper gets back in and they double clothesline each other down. 

Piper goes up top, gets hit and is crotched. Bret grabs him by the hair and bangs his face into the mat. Bret atomic drops him and suplexes him for 2. Bret russian legsweeps him for 2. Bret hits a backbreaker then elbow drops him.

Piper gets his knees up on Bret's 2nd rope elbow drop. They trade shots on their knees. Bret headbutts him then gets pushed into the ref. Piper lariats Bret out and bangs his head off the steps.

Piper grabs the ring bell and teases hitting Bret with it. Piper can't go it though and throws the bell away. Piper sleepers Bret and Bret uses the ropes to rebound backwards, rolls on top of him and pins him to win.

Thoughts: It was a good match with them pushing the story of two friends going at it and getting heated with each other. They both used some cheap tactics against each other and Piper opted not to totally cheat against Bret by using the belt which cost him in the end. I thought Bret got some good stuff out of Piper here, though I wish the crowd would have been a bit better.

We then go to a split screen interview with Lex Luger, who is at home. Lex says it's Bobby's pleasure and everyone's pleasure worldwide. Bret says Bobby's performance so far is unparallel but he can't say the same thing about the fat guy next to him. Bret says he knows what a thrill this must be. Bret talks about the upcoming WBF show.

Lex says he has the best body on earth and says he's the most perfect human being. Lex says he's head and shoulders above the rest. Bobby asks for a peek at Lex's body. Lex wears a tanktop and puts himself over. Lex then has a woman bring him milk to drink and he chugs it. He says he will see us June 13th.

Thoughts: This was not Lex's first appearance in the WWF as he had already appeared on WBF Bodystars commercials prior to this. He was very heelish here and obsessed with his body.

We go to the locker room with The Mountie and The Nasty Boys. Mountie says he talked to a policeman and says there's no better place to serve heard time than here. Mountie says Virgil will serve hard time. The Repo Man slips in and says it'll be the biggest repossession. Saggs puts over his team and says Mountie will electrify them and Repo will tow away the carcasses.

We then hear from The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Duggan. Sarge says to be ready to be slaughterized. Sarge tells Repo if he wants anything of theirs to come and get it. Boss says judgment day is here and they are are about to serve hard time. Virgil says his nose is protected but who will protect Mountie's nose? Jim says it'll be a fight and their strategy is to attack, attack, attack.

Ray Combs of Family Feud is in the ring talks for the next match. He says he knows a lot about feuds. He says there's no survey here. He said he asked 100 people for a survey of words to describe these people. He says Mountie doesn't know the meaning of the word fear, but there's lots of words he doesn't know the meaning of. He says Mountie does the work of 3 men - Curly, Larry and Moe. Ray says no one can call Repo two faced as he should be wearing the other now. Ray then says his parents were disappointed when they first saw him as they hoped for a boy. He says The Nasty Boys are 2 men sharing one brain. He says the only word you can describe their success with is lucky.

Repo Man, The Mountie & The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, The Big Boss Man & Virgil

The Nasty's go after Ray and the faces attack the heels. The faces all hit back elbows then do a 4 person lariat on 3 of them. Virg lariats Repo then Sarge and Jim lariat Repo. Bobby says Shawn Michaels has left the building and it's a shame he didn't take gorilla with him.

Jim poses and is hit from behind by Saggs. Jim's head is banged off the buckles then he hits lariats on Saggs. Jim atomic drops Saggs. Boss totally misses a punch on Saggs. Knobbs hits punches on Sarge then lariats him. Sarge gutbusters Knobbs then double stomps his gut.

Sarge back elbows Knobbs in the gut. Boss facekicks Knobbs. Boss misses a corner charge hard. Repo gets in and hits punches on Boss. Boss shoulders Repo over then misses a splash. Repo butt drops Boss' back. Repo tries it again and rams his crotch into Boss' punch. Boss punches down Repo. 

Virg dropkicks Repo then top rope crossbodies him for 2.  Mountie lariats Virg from behind then Repo backdrops Virg. Saggs knees Virg in the gut then pumphandle slams him. Mountie is caught off the buckles by Boss then spinebustered.

The faces hit punches on the heels and things break down. Mountie sends Sarge into the post. Saggs punches Knobbs on accident then Virg pins Knobbs to win.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. There were too many people involved which made it hard to get any flow going and they didn't have that much time.

Mr. Perfect and Ric Flair are interviewed by Sean Mooney. Perfect has a centerfold of Miss Elizabeth that we can't see. Flair says it's the real deal. Flair says it's Macho's attempt to capture the evidence of his lady and capture the title. Flair says Perfect will show the centerfold of Liz after it ends and says Liz will have one last shot at space mountain after.

Mean Gene is outside of Macho Man's dressing room. He says Macho isn't granting interviews.

WWF Title - Ric Flair (c) vs "Macho Man" Randy Savage 

The road to this was unusual. Macho hadn't wrestled for most of the year until Jake Roberts ruined his wedding. Flair won The 1992 Rumble. Hulk was announced as Flair's opponent for Mania but Tunney took away his shot and gave it to Macho. Hulk didn't seem to mind as he wanted to fight Sid. Flair then showed doctored photos that made him look like an ex lover of Miss Elizabeth and that made up the feud.

I thought it was a good match only. Mr. Perfect interfered multiple times in front of the ref yet the ref did nothing, then Miss Elizabeth walked down and a bunch of officials tried to stop her while not telling the ref about Flair and Perfect cheating. Macho mostly stuck to his brawling in the first half and Flair bumped big. Flair worked the leg in the 2nd half after a Perfect knucks shot to Macho's knee. Macho then took some shots and rolled up Flair by the tights. Flair only worked the knee in the second half after somewhat working the lower back in the first half. The finish was very weak here and had no great build to it. Flair bled here. We also never got to see what the centerfold looked like which sucked as it could have added another piece to this story as could have maybe Flair doing something to Liz. I really thought this was a classic when I first saw it and was surprised it didn't live up to my memories.

Flair and Perfect attack Macho after. Flair kisses Liz then Macho goes after him as officials break it up and actually hold Macho down for Flair. Macho celebrates his win with Liz.

Mr. Perfect and Ric Flair are interviewed after. Perfect is mad but Flair essentially says they will get on track, regroup and get the title back. Heenan also comes in during this and throws a fit.

Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth are interviewed. He says he got a piece of Flair as he knows him not having the title makes him tick. He says Flair hasn't been beaten up properly and says he wants the whole Flair package. They strongly hinted at a rematch here.

We see Tatanka's tribe do a dance in the ring. Rick Martel does a promo while he does this and says they have poor fashion sense and are of low class. 

"The Model" Rick Martel vs Tatanka

This match had no real build to it. Tatanka just debuted about 2 months prior and didn't have any big matches. Rick was gone for most of the year.

Rick did some nice bumping here but it wasn't much. Tatanka didn't get that great of offense in and ended up winning with a crossbody without much of a finishing stretch. I thought this was so-so.

Money Inc is interviewed after. Jimmy Hart says he knows The Natural Disasters weaknesses. Ted says you don't write checks you don't have the funds to cover. IRS says its time for The Disasters to pay up. He says they won't take them lightly but will take them.

The Natural Disasters do a promo after. Ty says he has a surprise for Hart. Quake says the time for talking is done and says they will get what is rightfully theirs.

WWF Tag Titles - Money Inc. (Ted Dibiase and IRS) (c) vs The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake)

As I explained earlier, Money Inc. won the titles before even really forming on TV. The story was that Jimmy Hart sold The Natural Disasters' title shot to Money Inc and Money Inc ended up winning the titles on a house show that we never got to see. This ended up turning The Disasters face as they wanted a piece of Jimmy Hart.

The match wasn't that good with a very lame finish as Money Inc simply just walked out and got counted out. Money Inc worked over the faces some and then left the match when it looked like The Disasters were on the verge of winning. I was very disappointed we didn't get a clean finish or more of match here since it was Mania. I love The Disasters but the problem is both are big and really shouldn't be bumping much which makes these matches harder to do.

Mean Gene interviews Brutus Beefcake. He says him and Hulk have been to the top and bottom and never saw Hulk drop his head. He says he's here to make sure Hulk knows we are all behind him. Brutus says he's the #1 Hulkamaniac and says Hulkamania will live forever.

Owen Hart vs Skinner

There wasn't any real build to this one. Owen was in The New Foundation with Jim Neidhart but they quietly split a month or two ago. Skinner kind of got a more serious push when he debuted in the second half of last year but it has cooled off.

Owen flips into the ring and Skinner spits in his face. Skin slams him and shoulderbreakers him. Skin then pounds on him. Skin knees Owen in the back then boots him in the gut. Skin reverse ddt's Owen for 2.

Skin hits headbutts and throws Owen out. Owen skins the cat then backrolls him to win.

Thoughts: It was a short time filler match that wasn't much of note. Owen didn't even really get to fly here.

Owen dropkicks Skin out of the ring after.

Mean Gene interviews Sid Justice and Harvey Wippleman. Sid tells Gene to shut up. He says this will be Hulk's last match and he will see to that. Sid tells Hulk to remember that he is the master and Hulk is the learner. Sid promises this will be Hulk's last match.

We see clips of Hulk's interview with Vince from March to Wrestlemania VIII about this maybe being Hulk's last match. We return to the promo and Sid says he doesn't care about the memories of Hulk Hogan. He says the only thing Hulk will remember is that he's the man who ended Hulkamania. Sid says he curses Hulk and all the Hulkamaniac's because he rules the world.

Harvey Wippleman does the intro for Sid just as he has been doing. Sid's music hits and his mic gets cut for a few seconds.

Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice

This really started at the 1992 Royal Rumble where Sid threw Hulk out (as Hulk had done to his buddy Tugboat previously) and then Hulk pulled Sid out after being eliminated. Sid got mad that he wasn't given the title shot at Mania at the press conference. Sid pretended to make up with Hulk then turned on him in a tag match. He then picked up Wippleman as his manager. They then started talking about Hulk maybe retiring. The match technically kind of was a dream match at the time, but it replaced the dream match of Hulk vs Flair.

Hulk gets in and Sid pounds on him. Hulk hits punches on Sid and knocks him out of the ring. Hulk hits Sid on the apron as his music continues to play then Hulk rips his own shirt off. The music then cuts out and Sid walks up the steps to get back in.

Sid and Hulk test strength. Hulk fights out of it. Sid knees Hulk in the gut then Hulk corner lariats him. Hulk goes after Harvey then takes a chokeslam from Sid. Sid then poses. Sid talks to the camera and says do unto the man as he would do unto you, but do it first. Heenan calls Sid "Psycho Sid" here as Sid clubs on Hulk.

Sid hits Hulk with Harvey's bag outside. Sid does a traphezus hold to Hulk. Sid side slams Hulk then hits a big powerbomb for 2. Hulk hulks up then hits punches. Sid's head is banged off the buckles and Hulk hits a big boot. Hulk motions for a slam and slams Sid. Hulk legdrops Sid and only gets 2. Wippleman gets in the ring and the ref rings the bell. Hulk throws Wippleman at Sid who catches him.

Papa Shango then comes out late in an infamous moment. Hulk and Sid fight then Papa nails Hulk from behind despite them not interacting on TV prior. Hulk is tied up in the ropes. The Ultimate Warrior's music then hits. Warrior has shorter hair and runs down and lariats Papa over the top. Sid chairs Warrior but Warrior shakes the ropes. Sid then leaves as Hulk and Warrior pose together with sparklers

Thoughts: The match was nothing. It made sense with Sid working on Hulk, getting too cocky and Hulk doing his comeback, but the DQ finish was totally lame and someone totally botched it as Papa Shango (who had no involvement with Hulk at this point) came down after the match ended. There's just no excusing a DQ finish in the main of the biggest show of the year. One would think Warrior would have wanted to get his hands on Jake and Taker earlier in the show after they got him bitten by a snake earlier in the year and buried him.

Overall thoughts: It was a disappointing Mania. The main event was botched with Papa Shango not coming down at the right time and it ended in a DQ. The tag title match was nothing. We had a bunch of time wasters like Tatanka/Martel, Skinner/Owen and the 8-man tag. The LOD returned after being off TV for a month but only did an interview. Bret/Piper was easily the match of the night. Flair/Savage was okay to good but not the classic I had remembered and we never got to see Perfect's centerfold of Liz. Jake/Taker wasn't much and oddly Tito/Shawn was somewhat boring. We also never got The British Bulldog vs The Berzerker as promised. I thought the crowd was either bad or poorly mic'd up all night too which hurt a lot of the matches. Sadly, I'd say this show represented what the WWF was all about at the time with the booking and planning taking a backseat to other things going on in Vince's life. This was also the last true Wrestlemania of the Hulkamania era as the company would look completely different by Wrestlemania IX. I'd give this one a 4 out of 10 and would really only recommend seeing Piper/Bret.