STW - WrestleMania 8 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

WrestleMania 8

WrestleMania 8 took place on April 5th, 1992 from the Hoosier Dome, in Indianapolis, Indiana. It drew 62,167. 

At the time, it was the fourth largest live house ($1.25 million) for a pro wrestling show in North America. It trails Hogan vs. Warrior in Toronto at WrestleMania VI ($3.45 million U.S.), Hogan vs. Savage at WrestleMania V in Trump Plaza ($1.63 million) and Hogan vs. Andre at the Pontiac Silverdome for WrestleMania III ($1.60 million).

The paid attendance was probably the second highest ever in the United States at the time, and fourth highest ever in North America. The U.S. record was the WM 3 (90,873) with the second and third highest being a crowds of 69,300 for a Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff 1986 match in Toronto and the 64,287 for Hogan-Warrior in Toronto, both of which were achieved with virtually no paper. The next biggest U.S. crowds officially would be 38,622 total (probably with very little paper) for a 1961 Pat O'Connor vs. Buddy Rogers match in Chicago and 36,295 (of which 35,771 was paid) for a Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko match in 1980 at Shea Stadium in New York. 

It's also been said that about 15,000 tickets were given away for free

It was night a good night for the scalpers, however, who purchased the $125 ringside tickets hoping to get the big money that hot tickets for a concert or big show can bring after it sells out. Scalpers at recent Wrestlemanias were generally getting up to $350 for ringside tickets, but this year the scalpers were taking a beating with ringside scalped seats going for about $40 at the door. If you throw in international shows, it wasn't in the top ten either in paid attendance or live gate. 

The PPV buy rate was around a 2.1 percent which would've been around 360,000 buys and $11 million total gross (of which, the gross for Titan Sports minus the 50 percent from the cable companies and middle-man's share would be between $4.5 and $5 million 

It was $29.95 to buy on ppv.

Even though you weren't in the WWF during this time, did you keep up with what was going on in the company?

Talk about what you were during around this time. On March 27th, in Global, you pinned referee James Beard by hitting him with a loaded glove

Who'd you keep in contact with in the WWF during this time?

While you were still there, how much of WrestleMania 8 had been planned, if anything? Was it already decided that it was going to be in the Hoosier Dome? Were they talking about a possible Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair main event?

These are back in the days where we were in the big 4 era of pay per views, where there was only 4 pay per views per year, so we're coming off of the Royal Rumble, where we saw Ric Flair win the Royal Rumble match, and win the World Title in the process. 

This was the first time that the World title was on the line in the Royal Rumble, it was held up because of the finish we saw at the Tuesday in Texas pay per view, where Hulk Hogan beat the Undertaker to regain the World Title (Taker beat him for the title the previous week at the Survivor Series pay per view) 

Because of the two controversial finishes to the matches & Ric Flair's involvement, the title was stripped from Hogan and given to the winner of the Rumble match, which as we said, was Ric Flair, and we thought that would set the stage to the dream match of Hogan vs Flair at WrestleMania 8, which didn't happen, but we'll talk more about that later

Even though you weren't there and can't really comment on what was going on in the company, we'll go through the WWF news leading up to WrestleMania 8

There was some huge news on February 14th  in St. Louis as a drug raid happened in the WWF locker room. 

Meltzer reported - About a half-dozen uniformed and two plainclothes St. Louis police officers along with one St. Louis police dog an a Federal drug agent were sent to the Arena and searched all WWF personnel for illegal drugs as they arrived. According to one performer, the wrestlers had all been alerted around 6 p.m. that evening, or about an hour before coming to the building, about the impending bust attempt. This resulted in no drugs being found on any of the wrestlers. On Tuesday, the DEA publicly denied its involvement while a St. Louis Police Department source on Tuesday said he couldn't confirm or deny anything but that "It was either an ongoing DEA investigation or one hell of a strong tip."

The WWF, through Steve Planamenta, claimed the police were simply investigating a security guard who worked at The Arena. However, Kathleen Hines of the St. Louis Arena management was furious at the WWF's claim saying that a federal drug agent was there as part of an ongoing investigation and supervising local police and they were there to search the WWF wrestlers. The St. Louis police officially at first even denied that there even was a search until informed of several eyewitness reports and direct conversations with people being searched and extensive details as to what happened. 

Then they claimed it had nothing to do with drugs until informed that a police dog was sniffing all the wrestlers bags. The performer who contacted us the night of the raid told us that without the leaking beforehand of the bust attempt, it would be his best estimate given who was on the show that eight to ten of the wrestlers would have been carrying something, mainly marijuana and steroids and possibly downers. "I can't tell you that number for sure," he said. "It could have been one or two and it could have been more than a dozen." 

If drugs, particularly steroids, had been found on more than one, let alone drugs found on anywhere near a half-dozen wrestlers, with all the major newspaper stories that are already in the works, which include expected front page coverage of steroids in wrestling stories in both the Los Angeles Times (which will be syndicated nationally) and San Diego Union and the impending 20/20 story, the ripple affect through the media probably would have been devastating

During this same period, the WWF had suspended several wrestlers including Hawk of the Legion of Doom, Kerry Von Erich and Jimmy Snuka. Officially the company confirmed the suspension of Snuka, an indefinite suspension (read that fired) for unprofessional conduct. They claim Von Erich was pulled from all his bookings after a call came from Fritz Von Erich that Kerry needed to go to drug rehabilitation at the Betty Ford Center (although it was during the period after Von Erich had been pulled from the road that he was arrested). 

There have been rumors swirling everywhere regarding LOD's future with Titan Sports, but nothing has been confirmed. WWF simply claims LOD is in limbo. The LOD has been replaced by The Bushwhackers for all upcoming scheduled house shows. While this has not been officially confirmed, most wrestling sources feel that they are done with the WWF and the happenings at the television taping seems to pretty well confirm that. Where they will wind up is another question, but judging from the response in various circles, the demand for them either in WCW or Japan may not be what you would think it would be. Snuka also won't be returning. Hercules is also history while Greg Valentine, who had already jumped to WCW, has been released from his contract.

Von Erich was taken off the road more than one week ago as he's missed all his bookings for the past two weeks. While on suspension, the 32-year-old Von Erich was arrested at around midnight on 2/9 at an Eckerd's Drug Store in Richardson, TX (a Dallas suburb) on two felony counts of obtaining drugs through fraud (passing forged drug prescriptions). Each charge is a felony III, which carries a two-to-ten year prison sentence and maximum $5,000 fine per offense. In reality one shouldn't expect Von Erich to serve any time for the offense if he agrees to enter a drug rehabilitation clinic, which he apparently has entered. 

Von Erich will be facing more problems because according to KDFW-TV in Dallas, Richardson police found out several days later that he also gave them a falsified address and phone number on his arrest report. Kevin Von Erich told KDFW that Kerry had entered a drug rehabilitation center on Monday because of problems resulting from the breaking up of his marriage. There is no word on his future with the company, but it looks bleak from here.

Meltzer reported later- At the show, several police officers along with a drug-sniffing dog and possibly a Drug Enforcement Agency official (there are contradictory stories whether such a person was present including three different confirmations and even more denials) were at the performers entrance to The Arena from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. They searched everyone who came through the door and the dog sniffed everyone looking for the scent of illegal drugs. Nobody was found with drugs in their possession and there were no arrests. According to one performer and a second source who contacted us that night, that was because road agent Jack Lanza had alerted all the wrestlers about an hour before they came to the building because word of the search had been leaked. 

Contradictory stories abound, most of which don't appear to hold any water. The WWF at press time last Tuesday claimed the search had nothing to do with the WWF but it was part of an investigation of a building employee. Basil DeVito, WWF Vice President in charge of misleading press releases and covering up embarrassing situations claimed he was told that by the arena on Saturday. Arena management initially claimed DeVito didn't speak with them until the following Wednesday. 

Kathleen Hines, who works in media relations for The Arena in St. Louis told Alex Marvez of the Miami Herald on Tuesday that the officer in charge identified himself as a Drug Enforcement Agency agent and the search was event-related and not, to her knowledge, because of the action of any Arena employees. But she changed her story in regard to the officer identifying himself as a DEA agent the next day. The St. Louis city police initially denied that any officers or dogs were even sent to The Arena and that anything had taken place. Officer Leeman Dobbins initially said he sent two officers to The Arena because it was afraid of a reprisal from a recently fired employee and said searches of the type were common at rock concerts and wrestling shows. However, in the 60-year history of the building, there is not one incident on record of it ever happening at a wrestling show (it has happened at least twice at rock concerts). In addition, why would a trained drug-sniffing dog be sent to examine the bags of pro wrestlers at the performers entrance to the building rather than a trained fight dog sent with police to the employee entrance if the police were investigating a disgruntled former employee? 

All along, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which we were initially told specifically was in charge of the raid as part of an ongoing investigation into Titan Sports, denied any involvement. Another officer on Wednesday night joked that, "They f---ed up the investigation (because of them dispatching officers and a drug-sniffing dog for three-and-a-half hours and coming up with nothing) and everyone's looking for cover (to cover their ass publicly so to speak)." 

While this was all going on, the WWF was in the midst of one of its best weekends at the gate in a long time as the promotion builds toward Wrestlemania. Yet this exceedingly healthy on the surface promotion has to be concerned over several major mass media stories in the works. It's pretty hard to speculate on what the result of those stories will be since they are all still being worked on at press time and we aren't privy to all the information that may wind up being released. The key topics being investigated are: 1) Hulk Hogan in general and specifically charges made by Billy Graham and David Shults that have already been reported here but have been corroborated by several others; 2) Apparent anabolic steroid use within the company and 3) Recent allegations of homosexual harassment by former prelim wrestler Barry Orton. There are other topics as well. 

This seemed to come on the heels of Hulk's appearance on the Arsenio Hall show. What did you think of his appearance, did you know he was lying on it?

As far as Kerry Von Erich at the time, Meltzer wrote - The WWF is saying that Kerry Von Erich will be welcomed back upon completion of his rehabilitation at the Betty Ford Clinic following being taken off the road to enter rehab and a subsequent arrest before rehab. Fritz Von Erich appeared on television station KDFW in Dallas this past week and claimed Kerry was addicted only to painkillers and that he had been addicted to them for the past six years ever since the motorcycle accident. The drugs he allegedly falsified the prescription for on 2/9 which resulted in two felony counts were in fact pain killers, Valium and Vicodin. 

On thursday, the district attorney in Richardson, TX decided to press charges in the case, which in a worst-case scenario would result in ten years in prison and a $5,000 fine. It's expected that upon completion of drug rehabilitation, Von Erich will receive a suspended sentence. Fritz Von Erich, when asked on television if Kerry's rehab is unsuccessful should he remain in wrestling, admitted that if it doesn't work, he should find a new profession. On Wednesday, WCW wrestler Tom Zenk plead innocent on six counts of steroid possession. Zenk would have received two years probation and a $1,000 fine if he had plead guilty. A subsequent hearing will be scheduled in about a month. 

Over the years, a lot of people have blamed Fritz for the problems that the Von Erichs kids had as far as drug usage, because it's been said that during WCCW's heydays, Fritz would turn a blind eye to their problems and not do anything about them. Do you think that was true, and are you surprised to hear that Fritz reached out to WWF to tell them Kerry needed help?

Phil Mushnick wrote a column for the New York Post at the time -

The World Wrestling Federation, already reeling from allegations of persistent steroid abuse among its biggest kiddie-TV stars, appears headed toward even greater scandal.

According to several highly placed sources, a lawsuit will be filed soon alleging that male WWF administrative employees and executives sexually harassed and abused underage teenage boys who were engaged as ring assistants in the mid and late 1980s.

The suit, which is expected to be filed early next month at a New York federal courthouse, will also, according to the sources, charge the WWF with transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of oral corruption as well as violating child-labor laws.

The plaintiff's tales of sexual misconduct by WWF employees, according to the sources, have been corroborated by another party, who claims to have been similarly abused while an underage teen in the employ of the WWF as a "ringboy" or go-fer.

A WWF staffer, speaking yesterday from the organization's headquarters in Stamford, Conn., said the only authorized spokesman, Steve Planamenta, was unavailable for comment.

David (Dr. D) Shults, a former WWF star, may have provided credibility to allegations of sexual abuse within the WWF when he was quoted last month about the organization in an independent pro wrestling magazine, Pro Wrestling Torch.

"We're talking about some of the top executives' sexual habits, their sexual preferences, sexual abuse and harassment." Shults recently joined another ex-WWFer, Superstar Billy Graham, in providing detailed claims of pervasive illegal drug use within the WWF, including steroid abuse by the WWF's marquee performer, Hulk Hogan.

On Friday, Mushnick ran another item related to the story as part of his column:

The World Wrestling Federation continues to take on water. This week's Village Voice reports that ex-WWF performer Barry "Barry O" Orton recently appeared on a radio show over KVEG in Las Vegas and said out loud what has been whispered about for years--that WWF male executives engage in sexual harassment via a casting couch for male wrestlers. Orton provided details of one such episode in which he claims to have been repeatedly subjected to the advances of a WWF exec.

Meanwhile, WWF performer Kerry Von Erich was arrested for drug possession, a lengthy WWF drug expose is expected in next week's Los Angeles Times, and a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of underaged boys by WWF staffers is expected to be filed in New York Federal Court early next month. Furthermore, ABC's 20/20 has tentatively scheduled March 13 to air a piece that, in part, points to steroid abuse within the WWF.

All this comes after allegations from ex-WWF stars Superstar Billy Graham and David "Dr. D" Shults that the WWF is lousy with illegal drugs and sexual exploitation, and that they personally watched or helped kiddie hero Hulk Hogan inject steroids "hundreds of times." And those allegations arose following a trial in which a Pennsylvania doctor, George Zahorian, was convicted of distributing steroids to several WWF stars, including Rowdy Roddy Piper.

On Friday, the WWF responded with a press release aimed at Muchnick's stories:

The New York Post has published a story containing serious, yet unsubstantiated charges about the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). We want to categorically state that the WWF and its parent company, Titan Sports, do not and will not tolerate illegal or improper behavior by any of our employees at any time. We will take responsible action regarding any legitimate claims filed through lawful channels.

However, Titan Sports, Inc. and the WWF feel no obligation to respond to charges that cannot be reasonably substantiated. Further, our attorneys have advised us to urge all news media and others to consider the credibility and the motives of any accuser before irresponsibly making public reckless charges, which are not grounded in fact, and which may have been made with malicious intent.

Titan Sports is proud to have corporate policies that are at the leading edge of any existing in the entertainment and sports industries regarding drug use, employment practices, and employee behavior.

Meltzer reported in early March - World Wrestling Federation Vice President in charge of talent, Pat Patterson and booking assistant Terry Garvin resigned Monday amidst a scandal that could threaten the very future of the company.

Patterson, who is generally considered one of the six or seven most influential men in the pro wrestling business, along with Garvin, one of his long-time assistants, announced their resignations following allegations of sexual misconduct by two former ring attendants, an ex-front office employee and charges made a few weeks back on the Wrestling Insiders radio show by former preliminary wrestler Barry Orton.

The allegations of two former ring attendants, both of whom were underage at the time and one of which is planning to file a lawsuit within a few weeks according to an article in this past Wednesday's New York Post, were the first stories of this nature to actually make the mainstream news. WWF owner Vince McMahon was furious about the charges, particularly those made by Orton, because he felt that because of Patterson and Garvin's gay lifestyle, they would be unable to defend themselves against the charges even though both claimed they were innocent of any wrongdoing. McMahon said both felt by staying with the company it could have a severe negative impact on the company. Thus, according to McMahon, both men offered their resignations.

McMahon on Tuesday denied all of the charges against both Patterson and Garvin. He said that Garvin totally refuted the charge made by Orton and McMahon was upset at Orton and those in the media for bringing up an incident from 1978. He was also upset with charges by a former employee in regard to Patterson as ridiculous and claimed the employee, Murray Hodgkins, who he called a certifiable lunatic, was fired because he couldn't do his job properly. He noted that Patterson has been in the wrestling business for 30 years and in that time hadn't had any allegations brought against him and claimed the various sources complaining both in regards to Patterson and Garvin and also Hulk Hogan weren't credible.

McMahon did admit that Hogan didn't tell the complete truth on the Arsenio Hall show but denied he had anything to do with what Hogan said except he told Hogan to tell the truth. He said he was devastated when Hogan didn't tell the complete truth. McMahon was also critical of WCW Executive Vice President Kip Frey's new steroid policy and of the wrestling newsletters reaction to the policy saying the only valid policy is involuntary testing if one is serious about the subject. 

He also denied knowing about any new letter sent to employees last week as was reported in last week's Observer even though one part-time employee claimed he received a letter last Monday with a release form to sign making himself available for steroid and drug tests that was mailed the previous Friday. McMahon was also defensive of his own steroid testing program, which he claimed was far better than that of either the International Olympic Committee or the National Football League. He'll release his written policy to the media shortly, and, provided they dig themselves out of this current hole, he'll hold anabolic steroid symposiums with Dr. Mauro DiPasquale (who is generally considered the leading expert on beating steroid tests in the Western World) of Canada to educate the media to the subject

What did you hear about that at the time? Were people skeptical that Pat had really left the company for sure?

Meltzer reported- Demolition Ax (Bill Eadie) filed a suit against the WWF and McMahon for a share of profits because he claimed he came up with the Demolition persona. Among those Eadie's lawyer got depositions from were Earthquake, Big Bossman, Jesse Ventura, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, Randy Savage, Typhoon, Kato and IRS. . .The New York Times ran a piece on Tuesday morning when the mayor of Stamford, CT proposed a show to raise money for the public library at the local high school stadium. The WWF would provide the wrestlers at no charge for the show. But when residents of those who live near the stadium heard about the plan, they protested at a city council meeting last week and seem to have gotten the idea nixed. The show has been postponed until a new time and a new venue can be determined. 

That takes us to WrestleMania 8

Reba McIntyre sung the national anthem

In the dark match, The Bushwhackers beat The Beverly Brothers in approximately 10:00. While it wasn't a good match, it turned out to be better than half of the matches that did take place. *

The British Bulldog was supposed to wrestle The Berzerker, but that match didn't happen, because of time constraints.

Shawn Michaels pinned Tito Santana in 10:38. While not a bad match by any means, it was disappointing considering the talent level involved. Michaels stalled early and spent most of the rest of the match on the mat with a side headlock put on him. Michaels got the advantage tossing Santana over the top rope and kept up for three minutes. Santana (the only man except for Hogan to be in every Wrestlemania) hit several flying forearms in a comeback with Michaels going to the floor. Michaels basically did a Curt Hennig-imitation in the last minute of the match with the wild bumps. Finish saw Santana try to bodyslam Michaels in from the apron, Michaels held onto the ropes and fell on him for the pin. **

This was Shawn's first pay per view singles match as a heel. It's been said that he was going to wrestle former partner, Marty Jannetty at this event, but Marty was arrested in Tampa following an altercation with a police officer. A 19-year-old female companion of Jannetty's was arrested for attempting to use a fake ID to get into a nightclub, at which time Jannetty reportedly grabbed hold of a cop. Jannetty was found to be in possession of less than one gram of cocaine.

Upon arrest, Jannetty was suspended indefinitely by WWE, and he served six months of house arrest. His feud with Michaels would resume in October 1992 upon his return to the company.

On the February 1st, 1992 episode of WWF Superstars, Sensational Sherri was a guest on The Funeral Parlor, where she admitted that she had found the man of her dreams, Shawn Michaels. Two weeks later she made her first appearance with Shawn as his manager, Sherri also sang the original version of Shawn’s theme music, “Sexy Boy”. 

We mentioned that this was Shawn's 1st ppv singles match, well it was Tito Santana’s last Santana’s final PPV record, including Rumbles and Survivor Series matches was 3-19. He was 0-6 in Royal Rumbles (he was in every Rumble from 1988-1993), 1-7 at WrestleMania, 0-2 at SummerSlam and 2-4 at Survivor Series. Add in his two dark matches and his record is 4-20, as he got his second WrestleMania win in the dark match at 9, meaning the only two WrestleMania matches he won were his first and last. 

Next up was an interview with Legion of Doom and new and old manager Paul Ellering. The interview was way too long and it didn't seem like many people knew who Ellering was. LOD didn't seem to have a definite program or purpose for the interview other than to debut Ellering and make it clear they've returned.

The next match was Undertaker vs Jake Roberts

Their feud started on a Saturday Night’s Main Event in February of 1992. Roberts had just lost a match with Savage and was waiting behind the curtain to attack Savage and Elizabeth with a chair. Just as he was about to hit them, Undertaker appeared and grabbed the chair from Roberts, turning face in the process. A few weeks later on the Funeral Parlor, as Jake locked Undertaker’s hand in the casket and hit him with several chair shots and then DDT'ed Paul Bearer. 

Undertaker pinned Jake Roberts in 6:39. Considering this was probably the third most anticipated match on the show, it was real bad. Undertaker sold nothing early and did his choking. Roberts hit the DDT twice but both times Undertaker popped back up. Finish saw Roberts go after Paul Bearer on the floor, Undertaker got out of the ring and gave Roberts the tombstone piledriver on the floor and threw him into the ring to be pinned. 3/4*

Jake actually quit right before this match. This was his first singles WrestleMania match as a heel since WrestleMania 2. It will also be his last match with the WWF until 1996. Roberts had been promised a position on the writing team previously by Vince McMahon, but became upset with him when he was not offered the job after Pat Patterson stepped down from the team due to a sexual harassment scandal. Jake would go to WCW later in the year and feud with Sting 

Gene interviews both Bret Hart and Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper about their upcoming title match. Piper starts off talking about how much he loves the Hart family while teasing Bret. Piper then reaches to pinch Bret’s cheek which Bret wouldn't let him do, and they get in each other's face

Bret Hart pinned Roddy Piper to regain the Intercontinental title in 13:50. Really good. They did an excellent job of getting their personalities over without turning either one. Hart bled a lot, which may have been accidental. But it did add a lot of drama to the match. The match build well before the ref bump. Piper clotheslined Hart to the floor and gave him a good shot to the ring steps. Piper then brought the ring bell to the ring and paused forever deciding whether or not to hit Hart but eventually didn't, keeping him a strong babyface in the eventual defeat. Piper then put on the sleeper, Hart kicked off the turnbuckle on fell backward onto Piper for the pin. ***1/2

This would be Roddy's last match for 2 years, until King of the Ring 1994 when he beat Jerry Lawler. Amazingly, this match was Roddy's first and only title defense in the WWF.

Bret wrote of the match in his book - As I put on my gear, it dawned on me that I didn’t get nervous for matches anymore. Even this one, where Roddy and I had planned that we were going to go against Vince’s policy just this once. I was going to get a little juice: our babyface match desperately needed it if we were going to steal the show. In a toilet stall I carefully snipped and taped up my blade.

With 68,000 fans in attendance and hundreds of thousands more watching at home on pay-per-view with VCRs going, four WWF cameras, not to mention all the wrestlers, I’d have to be a real pro to make the blood look accidental. When Roddy and I came nose to nose in the ring for the opening stare down, I had to look away or else I’d have cracked up. We’d worked a shoot, and the fans believed this match would be like no other, especially since The Hitman and Roddy Piper had never really worked before.

The story built slowly, the wily veteran and the hungry kid giving no quarter. When the time was right the ref stopped me and told me to fix my loose shoelace. While I leaned over to tuck it into my boot, Roddy blindsided me with a fist to the face, and I crumpled to the mat, covering up to spit the blade out of my mouth. Roddy kicked me several times in the face, never touching me. I cut a one-inch slice right over my right eyebrow, deep enough to convince all the boys afterwards that it was the real deal or risk being exposed. At first the blood was barely noticeable, but soon my face was a mess.

Of the finish, Bret wrote - I leaned and swung back at him with a desperate, wild blow that he easily ducked under as he clamped me in his finishing move, the sleeper. The captivated crowd was hanging on every move. I spun toward the corner flailing for the top rope, but my escape was just out of grasp and I began to sink. Supported by Roddy I jumped up and kicked off the top corner pad, knocking us both backwards with all my weight, crashing on top of Roddy, who couldn’t use his arms to break his fall. 

It had to hurt, the way we landed with a thud! I rolled backwards holding his elbows tight. Piper was pinned beautifully. The ref came back to life on cue for the one . . . two . . . three! With the crowd cheering loudly, Roddy gave me a hug, and I told him, “Thanks, cuz, I’ll never forget what you did for me today!” Roddy said, “I love ya, brother,” and buckled the IC belt around my waist.

What did you think of this match and how the finish happened?

Bret went on to write - I came through the curtain pretending to be concerned that I was going to need stitches. Chief, Lanza and a bunch of the boys gathered around me to see how bad it was. Chief brushed my hair away. “Maybe a stitch, Bret, but you’ll be all right.” Roddy was there, concerned, apologizing, and we both knew we’d fooled them all. Little did we know that Flair and Randy, who went on right after us, had secretly planned to get juice too. Flair was so obvious as he cut himself repeatedly that when he came back with several long, bloody cat scratches on his forehead, an angry Vince fined them each $500 for blading. He never said a word to me because he thought that mine was legit.

Next up was an interview with Lex Luger. I believe the interview was actually done that morning in Indianapolis and spliced into the show rather than done via split-screen from Atlanta as it was purported as being. Luger is the key in bridging the wrestling audience to become a bodybuilding audience.

More on the bodybuilding later but by 1993 Luger will become either the most over or the second most over person working for Titan Sports with his dual role in both promotions.

Lex made his first television appearance on WWF Superstars of Wrestling on Saturday plugging both Wrestlemania and the debut of WBF Bodystars on Saturday morning on the USA network 

Virgil & Big Bossman & Jim Duggan & Sgt. Slaughter beat Nasty Boys & Repo Man & Mountie in 6:31. Ray Combs of Family Feud did the ring announcing (since Titan is sending a team of heel wrestlers to oppose babyface bodybuilders on Family Feud very shortly). He was kind of annoying, but the ring announcing was still the best part of the match. Finish saw the heels get the noseguard off Virgil, Nobbs held Virgil while Saggs went to hit him with the noseguard, Virgil moved, Saggs hit Nobbs and Virgil pinned him. The match wasn't good, but nobody expected it to be, but at least it wasn't painful to watch. 1/4*

This would be Sarge's last ppv match in the WWF until December of 1997, when he wrestled Triple H at the IYH DX ppv

The next match was for the World Title, Ric Flair defending against Randy Savage.

Interesting fact, as many times as Ric was the World Champion, this was his first and only WWF World Title defense on a pay per view.

In February, WWF President Jack Tunney held a press conference to announce the #1 Contender to the World Title at WrestleMania 8. The 5 candidates were Hulk Hogan, Sid, Undertaker, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. Tunney then announced that Hulk Hogan would be the number one contender at WrestleMania. 

After some events over the next few weeks, which we'll discuss later, Hulk was taken out of the World Title match, and Randy Savage got the shot. Leading into the show, Ric Flair started claiming that he had dated Elizabeth years before Savage, and also showed pictures of them together. Later on, Savage would show the same pictures that Ric did, however Randy was in the pictures instead of Ric, to prove that Ric doctored the pictures that he showed.

In the locker room, Sean Mooney interviewed World Champion Ric Flair along with his executive consultant Mr. Perfect. They had threatened to show pics of Elizabeth. Flair cut an awesome promo about how Savage was going to try to capture the most coveted trophy of them all. He told Randy that when it’s over Randy should look at the big screen because Mr. Perfect will be showing the centerfold to the world.

Backstage, Mean Gene was standing outside of Savage's locker room door saying that Savage didn’t want to talk to anybody.

Randy Savage pinned Ric Flair in 18:02 to win the WWF championship. This was expected to be the match of the show and it lived up to it. The purported centerfold photo of Elizabeth that Titan was using as a lure to get last minute buys never materialized. Savage attacked Flair early with Mr. Perfect saving Flair from the early beating. Flair took all his bumps for the first two minutes before backdropping Savage over the top rope and Savage taking the bump like a Mexican wrestler. 

Flair kept the advantage for the next several minutes. The only negative about the work were that a lot of Savage's clotheslines looked real bad and Flair sold them like they weren't. Savage came off the top rope to the floor with a double sledge and Flair juiced after hitting his head on the guard rail. Savage suplexed him on the floor. Savage then hit the elbow off the top rope but Mr. Perfect interfered right in front of the ref and pulled Savage off. Then came the ref bump. Perfect gave Flair a foreign object and he hit Savage but Savage kicked out (I'll bet 90 percent of the people watching thought that was going to be the real finish). 

Perfect then attacked Savage's knee and Elizabeth came to ringside with Shane McMahon, Dave Hebner, Rene Goulet, Jay Strongbow and J.J. Dillon (that's who they told me it was, I've watched the tape three times and still don't believe it since it looked like a taller Jim Barnett) blocking the view of all those nice folks who paid $125 for ringside during the hottest part of the best match on the show to act like they didn't want here there. 

Flair got the figure four on, Savage reversed it. In the ensuing melee, Savage schoolboyed Flair using the tights and got the pin. Flair kissed Elizabeth, who started slapping him, after the match. Savage jumped on Flair and Perfect jumped on Savage and the gang in suits all jumped on everyone and got jumped on and everyone was jumping on everyone. Doesn't this sound like "Now It Can Be Told" all over again? Well, at least this time, J.J. did get to watch. ****1/4

Backstage Sean Mooney interviews Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect when Heenan shows up, shouting about Savage holding Flair’s tights. Flair challenges Savage to “do it again”, that one time means nothing to my career while Perfect says that Savage, like Liz, is “gonna be damaged goods!” We see a replay of the finish as Flair tells Savage he’s going to get his revenge. “And every time I see your old lady I’m gonna kiss her on those moist, wet lips.

Next Gene interviews the new WWF Champion Randy Savage and Elizabeth. Savage says the trunks don’t matter, that’s it’s only a piece of what I wanted from you, Ric Flair and that Flair hasn’t been beat up properly. Okerlund tries to ask Elizabeth about vindication but Savage gives her the title and tells her to leave before shouting about Flair having all of Savage the next time around. 

At this point, there was no way this card could have been a thumbs down. But it might as well have ended here because the best thing on the show after this point was either the intermission or the British Bulldog vs. Berzerker match that didn't take place because they were running late on time.

Backstage Sean Mooney interviews The Model Rick Martel about his forthcoming match against Tatanka. Martel says he’s going to have to disinfect the ring with Arrogance and says there may not even be a match because I heard that Tatanka is still out there scalping tickets 

Tatonka pinned Rick Martel in 4:33 with a cross bodyblock. The ring entrance with all the Indians dancing was longer than the match, and it didn't get over either. Martel carried him and it wasn't bad. *1/4

The next match was for the tag team titles, Money Inc defending against The Natural Disasters

The Natural Disasters turned face in February when Jimmy Hart sold their title shot to his new team, Money, Inc. Money, Inc. beat the Road Warriors for the titles at a house show on February 2, 1992 in Denver, Colorado. 

Backstage Sean Mooney interviews the WWF Tag Team Champions Money, Inc. about their forthcoming title defense against the Natural Disasters. DiBiase talks about not writing checks the Natural Disasters can’t cash and I.R.S. talks about Natural Disasters being taken while Gene interviews the Natural Disasters who are both focused on revenge against Jimmy Hart. 

Natural Disasters beat Money Inc.via count out in 8:37 so Money Inc. keeps the WWF tag team titles. Oh, was this bad. Disasters aren't over as faces one lick and work so badly that the crowd didn't have a lick of interest in the match. Typhoon was far worse than usual, which is a mouthful. Typhoon splashed IRS and Jimmy Hart pulled him out of the ring and they walked back to the dressing room for the count out loss. The fans in the building, who no matter how many times they see this, have always in the past popped for the COR thinking the title changed hands, didn't care one iota. Horrible match and an even worse finish. -**

Backstage Mean Gene interviews Brutus Beefcake regarding Beefcake’s friendship with Hulk Hogan and this event potentially being Hogan’s final match 

Owen Hart pinned Skinner in 1:09 with a reverse rolling cradle. Hart looks ridiculous in that ring outfit. Best move of the match was Hart's ring entrance. DUD

That takes us to the final match of WrestleMania 8, Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice.

We talked earlier about the press conference where Jack Tunney announced that Hogan was getting the title shot at WrestleMania 8, and we saw Sid visibly angry, which planted the seeds to his soon to be heel turn. The seeds were also planted at the Royal Rumble when Sid eliminated Hulk and Hulk grabbed Sid's arm from the floor, allowing Flair to eliminate Sid and win the match and World Title, as they were the last 2 in the ring

Sid later apologized and offered to team up with Hulk against Ric Flair & The Undertaker on the next Saturday Night’s Main Event. During the match when Hulk was in trouble, he went to tag Sid and Sid jumped down off the apron, ignoring Hulk's tag attempt. Sid walked over to Brutus Beefcake who had been in his and Hogan’s corner and threatened to punch him in the face.

This immediately turned Sid heel and started his feud with Hulk. Sid then picked up Dr. Harvey Wippleman, as his manager and Sid appeared on the Barber Shop and flipped out and destroyed the entire set with a chair, including breaking glass which caused shaving cream to shoot all over his face & Sid then started yelling into the camera with the shaving cream on his face. 

Gene then interviews Sid Justice and Harvey Whippleman. Sid promises it will be Hogan’s final match before we see footage of the March 29, 1992 March to WrestleMania 8 A Tribute to Hulk Hogan program, where Vince is doing a sit down interview with Hulk, and Hulk says, I just won’t know till I come out of the ring, if it was my last match.” After the clip Sid says he doesn’t “give a damn” about the history of Hogan and curses both Hulk Hogan and every Hulkamaniac 

Hulk Hogan beat Sid Justice via DQ in 12:29. You know Hogan is really something special when he can be in a match, like this one or the one with Andre, which is totally devoid of anything, and still just by his charisma get interest in the match. Not that this wasn't horrible because it had to be one of the three worst main event matches in PPV history. After an opening flurry, there was a two minute stall, a test of strength that never ended, an interminable nerve hold and the first wrestling move of the match came at 10:30 which was a side slam followed by a power bomb that Hogan kicked out of and made the Superman comeback.

Hogan had perhaps the worst looking foot-to-the-face he's done in a long time, followed by the bodyslam and legdrop, Justice kicked out and the ref called for an immediate DQ because Harvey Whippleman got in the ring. Papa Shango did the run-in to lead to the return of a slimmed-down Ultimate Warrior who made the save, in gear, complete with entrance music and all. -**

Meltzer wrote - Warrior is back full time and there was a long term plan for him, but didn't say what that was

Did you know he was coming back at this show, were you surprised to see him?

It's also been said that the finish was botched, and Papa Shango was supposed to hit the ring after Hulk hit the legdrop and break up the pin, causing the DQ, but that didn't go as planned

Interesting fact, this is the only WrestleMania main event to end in a DQ

This was also the first time in WrestleMania history that the World Title match wasn't the last match on the show. It was also the 7th time in 8 years that Hulk was the last match

Leading up to this match, there was a lot of talk that Hulk might retire after this match, he did take some time off to do a movie after, but was the retirement rumors taken seriously?

Right before this event, Hulk bought his famous home in Clearwater, Florida for 2.3 million

Let's talk about the elephant in the room, why the Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair dream match didn't happen.

They had several house show matches after Flair came to the WWF in 1991, even at MSG. But it's been said that the responses to those matches weren't the greatest, and that's why Vince decided to not go with it at WrestleMania. Talk about that. Do you agree with that decision or do you you think they should've done it? 

Meltzer has said - the plan was always Sid/Hogan, and never was going to be Flair/Hogan: The plan was always Hogan/Sid, dating back a year. Business was very different then. House shows were advertised big. You didn’t do 2-3 matches in every market on a house show and then the PPV. I knew Hogan/Sid as the main event maybe 10 months out. When they did the TV announcement of Hogan/Flair, it was just an angle as Flair already knew he was facing Savage by then. What people don’t realize is that Hogan/Flair started off doing good business, but it had petered out by December, months before Mania. 

Vince was going to build to Hogan legdropping Flair at the house shows early in 1992, but after a terrible house in Florida, Vince felt it had run its course. He changed all the shows to Hogan & Piper vs. Flair & Sid, and it was Hogan/Sid drawing the money. The only Hogan/Flair Mania hint was in September of 91, when they started their house show run, and Flair wanted to do 30:00 matches and Hogan wanted 15:00, he told Flair they needed to save the 30:00 match for Mania. But when crowds for the program dropped, and second time in our market they only did 5,400 at the Cow Palace, and our market had it first, there was no Mania in their future. 

In hindsight people think it would have been a big deal, but it had already run its course months before Mania and WWE promoted the program ass backwards and Flair wasn’t considered special by WWF fans. I’m a friend of Flair and have never had any interest in paying to see Sid, but that is how it was then.” 

Amazingly, Hulk & Ric never wrestled each other on ppv in the WWF. They did wrestle once, 10 years after this on Raw in 2002, when Hulk was the Undisputed champion, they wrestled for the title. Hulk won after Austin ran in and hit Flair with the Stunner

WCW would capitalize in 1994 when Hulk came there, and they wrestled at the Bash at the Beach 1994, which was Hulk's first match in WCW, and he won the title. They'd go on to have many matches against each other over the years in WCW, on both pay per views, and on TV

Of all the dream matches that Vince could've made over the years, but didn't...where do you rank Hulk vs Flair at WrestleMania 8?

WRESTLEMANIA VIII:

Thumbs up 251 (40.9 percent)
Thumbs down 221 (36.1 percent)
In the middle 141 (23.0 percent)

BEST MATCH POLL:

Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage 373
Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart 83

WORST MATCH POLL:

Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice 169
Ted DiBiase & IRS vs. Natural Disasters 131
Owen Hart vs. Skinner 61
8 man tag match 52
Tatanka vs. Rick Martel 25
Jake Roberts vs. Undertaker 14