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WrestleMania 5: MegaPowers Explode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/through-the-years-wwf-wrestlemania-v/#.VNduai6oBxU

909 poops on covers a show I watched 200 times as a kid.

Is the WWE Network version the original with the Finkel botch of calling Haku "King Tonga"?

They edited off Brother Love having his kilt stripped off and running back in his red briefs. Same edit as is on the Piper DVD. :o
 
I think 909 is a little harsh on it as well but I understand (and agree) with most of his criticisms if that makes any sense.


Ya know Haku Vs Hercules is one of if not the only example I can think of where the Coliseum Video hacked up, edited version of the match is a lot better than the actual match. It's a kicking 3-4 minute power match with pretty much non stop action instead of the so so 7 minute power match it actually was.
 
The Network version has "Haku" dubbed over Finkel's botch.
 
I watched it all in two sittings, which I rarely do.

The crowd was the majority of the problem. They didn't react to anything!
 
Andre-Jake really is one of the worst. Feel bad for Andre at WMs 4 & 5. That long entrance aisle (with a bunch of steps!) must've been hell on his knees and back. At least they only had him come out once at WM 5.

The match was impossible to be good but there's no excuse for giving that much time. Have Andre beat Jake down for a couple minutes then go after Studd. Jake brings the snake in. Scares Andre who stumbles into a Studd clothesline. Fast count, Jake goes over, dumb feud is finally done.
 
This show could've used a battle royal like the year before to consolidate some of the filler matches.
 
I think it should have been Jake Roberts & Big John Studd Vs The MegaBucks at WrestleMania V with Andre & DiBiase getting a cheap win and Jake and MDM most of the wrestling. Throw Beefcake in the battle royal that consolidates some of the filler matches and have him win it by tossing out Ron Bass last (and blow off that feud!)
 
King Kamala said:
I think it should have been Jake Roberts & Big John Studd Vs The MegaBucks at WrestleMania V with Andre & DiBiase getting a cheap win and Jake and MDM most of the wrestling. Throw Beefcake in the battle royal that consolidates some of the filler matches and have him win it by tossing out Ron Bass last (and blow off that feud!)
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He blew that off with Bass on SNME by cutting his hair. Have him chuck Honky.
 
THUG said:
I watched it all in two sittings, which I rarely do.

The crowd was the majority of the problem. They didn't react to anything!
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I will admit that. The Atlantic City crowds were really bad for the most part.
 
I agree that the show isn't good overall. Too many slow and plodding type matches, and some really dumb finishes in some instances. Plus, Savage looked like a second rate chump.
 
The WON's after the show detailed that Savage losing in the manner he did was terrible for business. They were running one circuit with Savage on top, and another with Hogan on top drawing huge money. That stopped afterward. They also said that Hogan booked the finish.
 
Rex Ryan's Missing Appetite said:
Kahran Ramsus said:
This is actually one of my favourite Wrestlemanias.
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Same, and like Brody I had this on tape so I too watched this a couple hundred times as a kid.
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Yeah, me too. It was my first PPV, as opposed to waiting for Coliseum Video.
 
THUG said:
The WON's after the show detailed that Savage losing in the manner he did was terrible for business. They were running one circuit with Savage on top, and another with Hogan on top drawing huge money. That stopped afterward. They also said that Hogan booked the finish.
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It certainly had the taint of Hogan self-booking.
 
I don't get the complaints. If you were going to do Hogan-Savage the logical finish is Hogan winning clean. You don't want a screwjob finish at Mania. And you don't want to risk hurting Hogan at this point in favor of keeping both Savage and Hogan strong.

If you wanted to run two circuits with Hogan and Savage as champ then you shouldn't have done the match at all. I really don't see any other way to book this.
 
Is WWE hiring writers? I like the cut of this guy's jib.
 
He didn't have to go over. But to expect him to still draw as well on his tour after that match is unrelentingly dumb. Have Hogan win by a rollup or a quick legdrop after a missed elbow or etc. Killing the Savage Elbow like that was silly (if your goal was to keep selling a lot of tickets on the Savage led tour).
 
Success Portrait John Cena said:
Useless Moron Scott Keith has said for years that Savage should have gone over. Weird to see that he has proof to back him up.
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He should have gone over. I don't think he had to, but the ideal situation was Savage being chased by Hogan around the country, they would have drawn huge houses. Another problem is that the gap between WrestleMania and SummerSlam was too large. The B tour afterward was headlined by Big John Studd and Andre. They didn't draw dick. They went from having two very profitable tours, to one tour that drew nothing and the tour with Hogan vs. Savage drawing much less than they did before those two guys were brought together. This probably had a lot to do with them pushing Warrior to the top as business went way downhill after this. They'd already played the Warrior (feuding with Savage) and Big Boss Man (with Hogan) cards, so they couldn't have kept Savage and Hogan on separate tours after WrestleMania in any case.

The problem is how you have Savage go over. It would have to be cheap.
 
Here's an idea. It has its drawbacks, though, the biggest being it would've meant the big Main Event angle wouldn't happen.

Hogan eliminates Savage as seen in the Rumble. But, instead of being dumped himself a bit later, Hogan wins it. Mega Powers vs Twin Towers headlines Main Event but without the breakup angle. Later in the show Jack Tunney announces that Hogan will receive a world title shot at WM by virtue of his Rumble win. Friction is teased for a couple more months but the Mega Powers are still together going into a face vs face WM 5. Savage turns during the match and sneaks out with his belt. Then Hogan chases him on one house show circuit leading up to a new June ppv, "Explosion" or some shit. Load up the other tour with Warrior, Rude, Piper, Boss Man, Roberts, DiBiase, Demolition, Andre, etc to try keeping those tickets moving.
 
Savage probably should have won in retrospect, but remember that this was their real attempt to crossover Hogan with the mainstream with the start of his film career with No Holds Barred. It didn't work out, but it absolutely made sense at the time to get the belt back on Hogan for it.

Also, wasn't Studd/Andre the C-Tour? The B-Tour was Warrior/Rude and Demolition/Twin Towers.
 
I stand by the previous posts of a battle royal. Some of the other ideas we had 10+ years ago are still good, too.

While they were repeating venues, another thing that would've helped this show: Bob Uecker.
 
And then he did a tag team title match that included one of several instances of "the only time the Warlord has ever been slammed"!
 
Card could be helped by combining the Heenan haters into a six man (Rooster, Hercules and Jake the Snake vs Heenan, Haku and Andre.

That would be better if Rooster denounces the gimmick once he turns on Heenan. Bland Taylor has to have a better chance than goofy gimmick Taylor? But that wouldn't let the bookers make fun of Flair's strutting and/or put Taylor in line for having self confidence.

You can add to angle by announcing the match as Andre/Haku/Brawler only for Tunney to decree after reviewing Brawler attacking Monsoon with a stool, Brawler will avoid suspension but he will be penalzed by being removed from Wrestlemania and any payoffs that would come with it - oh and Bobby Heenan will be his replacement or face the same financial penalty for his role in the incident with Taylor/Monsoon and the Brawler.

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The card is not helped by 3 of the top heels from 1988 not having any angle for their Mania matches. The Bossman working Hogan in front of sell outs for months only to get a throwaway match at the big show is fairly nutty.

Had Herc done better as a face I assume Dibiase and him would have gotten a blow off here instead of the Main Event.

I think the Summerslam formula of more 6 man matches would have helped. - Harts/Garvin vs Bravo/Honky/Valentine Duggan/Rockers vs Twin Towers/BN Brown and the Heenan thing. Condense down the filler, give Andre less exposure and let him nail his key spots.
If this was Frenchy's farewell with Bravo so you can have Frenchy cost the heels the win and Bravo cans him and leaves with Hart. etc
 
Savage/Hogan would be one of my all time favorites if the finish was even slightly different. Like how hard is it for Hogan to roll out of the way? It canonically making the elbow wake Hogan up is horrible and Savage was never the same.
 
Valeyard said:
Savage/Hogan would be one of my all time favorites if the finish was even slightly different. Like how hard is it for Hogan to roll out of the way? It canonically making the elbow wake Hogan up is horrible and Savage was never the same.
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Animal Steele kicked out of the Big Elbow at Mania 2.
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Did a name guy ever do a job for the elbow other than Dibiase at Mania 4? His main finish after WM 5 was death by purse.
 
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