zkonedog Sometimes it just takes a huge event, a "happening" in the words of Gorilla Monsoon, to jump- start a product. The WWF's big tournament to crown a champion in the wake of a vacated belt was just that for the Wrestlemania brand.For the past three years, Wrestlemania had relied a bit too much on celebrities and gimmicks to get by. It was still a unique event, but until Steamboat/Savage & Hogan/Andre in Wrestlemania III the matches really didn't seem to mean all that much or create enough drama. That all changes in Wrestlemania IV because of the tournament, where every single match takes on added significance.Basically, this is the event where the WWF finally lets the matches "do all the talking", so to speak. There is very little celebrity involvement (a recurring bit regarding Vanna White and Bob Uecker is pretty funny) in lieu of solid matches. Besides the Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude contest, I can't really say that any of the matches in this event are boring (again, because of the presence of the tournament format). The wrestling speaks for itself, as do the personalities behind it.Wrestlemania IV is still announced by the Monsoon/Ventura team...the best in the business, IMHO.So, this is the first Wrestlemania that the WWF really gets right and produces a very polished product. It just took the large-scale tournament format to kickstart the process.

eltacoman1978 I remember them hyping the Hogan/Andre match BIG TIME prior to this show,only to see them fight to a lame no contest. If that wasn't bad enough,they botched the chance to have Savage/Steamboat in the second round (though semi-final's would have been more fitting),instead we were witness to Savage/Valentine and Savage/OMG. Even though Savage was obviously winning the tournament,the focus was still ALL about Hogan,which angered me then as it does now,being Macho was one of my all time favorites. If your a Macho fan,this is worth a watch,as he could really go back then. If your not,you probably wouldn't get as much out of it.

Joseph P. Ulibas Wrestlemania IV (1988) marked the start of the end of Hulkamania's run as one of the biggest draws in pro wrestling. At this point wrestling was so huge that Donald Trump himself wanted a piece of the action. He had the next two Wrestlemanias (IV and V) held in the Trump Plaza. The Donald even had ringside seats for this four hour event. The storyline went like this Hulk Hogan lost to Andre the Giant in a very controversial match on N.B.C. 's Saturday Night's Main Event wrestling program. Immediately after the match Andre and his manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan gave the belt to Ted "Million Dollar Man" Di Biase and he gave the Brain a suitcase full of money. Both parties were satisfied except the Hulkster who "cried" during a promo he gave after the match.The stage was set for Wrestlemania IV, W.W.F. "president" Jack Tunney organized a tournament set up involving all of the top singles competitors in the W.W.F. This was supposed to be the greatest wrestling spectacle of all time. Except the matches stunk and the event was four hours long!! The only matches of note was the battle royale (Bad News Brown was the man!) and the old school N.W.A. style match between Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and the Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (those two put on one good match), They should have called this one Wrestlemania "Snore".But it's worth getting just to hear the most delusional promo ever recorded from the Hulkster!!B-

RepoManRules This show was on way too long. 4 HOURS! They only get 3 these days. And the whole show was lackluster. Although Savage winning the belt was special, the matches weren't. Andre vs. Hogan II was terrible. The match of the night went to Savage vs. Valentine and it was only ***! Yes! Just 3 stars!Not recommended.