The fallout from WrestleMania sees a lot of new developments.
WWF World Championship Scene: (currently held by: Randy Savage)
At WrestleMania V, Hulk Hogan was able to defeat WWF World Champion
Randy Savage to win the championship following a leg drop. Hogan kicked
out of the elbow drop in the closing seconds before dropping the leg and
winning the championship. On the house show market, Hogan would
actually lose to Savage by count-out due to Sherri Martel getting
involved in the matches.
Hogan’s first defense, aside from against Savage on the house show
market, would take place at the April 25th taping of Saturday Nights
Main Event #21 which would not be aired until May 27th. The match would
take place inside a steel cage as Hogan squared off against the dominate
Big Bossman. After ten minutes of action, Hogan was able to escape the
cage after handcuffing Bossman to the top rope.
The house market would see Hogan lose to Randy Savage by count-out,
or see him defeat Big Bossman inside a cage. Hogan wrestled Savage at
Madison Square Garden on April 24th, losing by count-out after Sherri
Martel prevented Hogan from returning to the ring.
Another challenger to Hogan’s WWF World Championship made their debut
as Zeus, co-star of No Holds Barred, entered the company confident he
would beat Hogan for the championship.
WWF Intercontinental Championship Scene: (currently held by: the Ultimate Warrior)
At WrestleMania V, the Ultimate Warrior would lose the WWF
Intercontinental Championship to “Ravishing” Rick Rude. Rude was able to
win the championship after Heenan tripped Warrior on a vertical suplex
attempt and held his foot down allowing Rude to get a three count. After
the bout, Warrior press slammed Heenan and chased after Rude.
While Rude would compete against Warrior on the house show market, he
would lose the matches by either disqualification or count-out. He
wrestled against Jim Duggan at SNME#21 which he lost by count-out as
well.
WWF World Tag Team Championship Scene: (currently held by: Demolition)
At WrestleMania V, Demolition retained the WWF World Tag Team
Championships over Powers of Pain when Ax pinned their former manager
Mr. Fuji who had previously thrown salt into the Warlord’s eyes
accidentally.
For the rest of the month, Demolition would defeat Powers of Pain,
Akeem & Big Bossman , and Rhythm & Blues by disqualification to
retain the titles. However, they did lose to the Brainbusters by
disqualification when Ax shoved the referee out of frustration.
Other Happenings:
– Rick Martel turned on Tito Santana after Santana accidentally hit
Martel with a flying forearm smash during their tag match against the
Brainbusters. Martel revealed in an interview at WrestleMania V that he
was sick and tired of Santana riding his coat tails. This effectively
ended the tag team known as Strike Force. Martel would end up having
Slick as his manager.
– At the April 5th taping of Wrestling Challenge, Sherri Martel and
Randy Savage beat down Brutus Beefcake on the Brother Love Show for
calling Sherri “Scary Sherri”. The beat down allowed Savage to cut off
some of Beefcake’s hair. With Savage having a new manager, Miss
Elizabeth announced during the April 26th taping of Superstars that she
would manage WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan for as long as he wanted her.
– At the April 4th taping of Superstars, Ron Garvin and Greg
Valentine agreed to have a career vs. career match the next time they
competed against each other. During the same taping, Valentine defeated
Garvin in under four minutes to force Garvin into retirement, though he
would make appearances as a referee.
– Jake Roberts was attacked by Ted DiBiase after beating Virgil
during the April 4th tapings of Superstars. DiBiase injured Roberts neck
with the Million $ Dream forcing him out of action for several weeks.
– Jim Duggan made it clear that he was going to take the crown away from King Haku.
– The Rougeau Brothers brutally attacked Shawn Michaels with Jimmy
Hart’s megaphone during the April 25th taping of Wrestling Challenge,
causing Michaels to bleed from his mouth. The Rougeau called the Rockers
copycats for singing their theme music and believed they were superior
to the Rockers, anyway.
WWF WrestleMania V Results:
– Hercules defeated King Haku
– The Big Bossman & Akeem defeated the Rockers
– The Bushwhackers defeated the Rougeau Brothers
– Mr. Perfect defeated the Blue Blazer
– WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition defeated Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji to retain titles
– Dino Bravo defeated Ron Garvin
– The Brainbusters defeated Strike Force
– Jake Roberts defeated Andre the Giant by disqualification. Big John
Studd was the referee for the match and was attacked by Andre.
– The Hart Foundation defeated the Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine
– Rick Rude defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior to win the title
– Jim Duggan fought Bad News Brown to a double disqualification
– The Red Rooster defeated Bobby Heenan
– Hulk Hogan defeated WWF World Champion Randy Savage to win the title
WWF SNME #21 Results:
– Jim Duggan defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Rick Rude by count-out
– Randy Savage defeated Jim Neidhart
– WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Big Bossman in a steel cage match to retain the title
– The Brainbusters defeated WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition by disqualification
– Jimmy Snuka defeated Boris Zhukov
Buy-rates:
WrestleMania V: 5.9
SNME #21: N/A
Bob’s Opinion:
Before I share my opinions on the month, I wanted to note that I skipped posting March 1989 on here for the simple fact that nothing new occurred during the month. I didn’t think there was a point to waste anyone’s time with me saying “no new developments” happened several times in the post.
Hogan’s championship win wasn’t all that surprising and provided a good main event with Savage at Mania. The cage match with Bossman is also a hidden gem, in my opinion. They had a few good cage matches on the house market, too. The involvement of Zeus is just humorous and is something I can’t take seriously. I mean, it’s the guy from Friday (the movie).
I’m very happy that Rick Rude has won the WWF Intercontinental Championship. In my opinion, he is probably the best heel going in the company alongside Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase. It’s shocking to me that Rude never had a long lasting program with Hogan.
The split of Strike Force is rather interesting. Martel quickly showed that he was capable of being an entertaining heel and would be just that over the next three or so years in the WWF. Sadly, Tito wouldn’t get much steam during this singles run.
Heading into the spring we’ve got the following feuds heating up…
Hogan vs. Savage for the WWF World Championship
Rude vs. Warrior for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Demolition vs. Powers of Pain or Brainbusters for the WWF World Tag Team Championships
Ted DiBiase vs. Jake Roberts
Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana
The Rockers vs. The Rougeau Brothers
Jim Duggan vs. King Haku
Personally, if that was a regular house show card during this time, I’d have no problem forking over some serious money to watch it.
What are you memories of the WWF at the time? Feel free to share them!
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