WrestleMania 8 could've been the greatest ppv ever

[Marc the Smark]

That's right. Wrestlemania 8 had the potential to be the definative Wrestlemania, the very best PPV ever.

The PPV I booked contains wrestlers worked in the WWF during this years Wrestlemania and for one reason or another, weren't used on the card or weren't booked in a match.

Take a look at how I booked it and gimme your thoughts. Personally, I can't think of a Wrestlemania past or present that can compete with this one.

Main Event:
WWF World Championship Match:
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair(Champion) vs. Hulk Hogan
Winner-Hulk Hogan via pinfall. Hogan has to go over as the face against the hated Flair and he had a program that was started at Survivor Series and is considered to be the all time dream match for the time. I think that there's never been a bigger main event in Wrestling History and Flair could deliever a GREAT match.

Steel Cage Grudge Match:
"Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Winner: Randy Savage via pinfall following a flying elbow smash off the top of the cage. I've never felt that they got real closure with this feud and it's one of the hottest in history. It would be a great match and a great lead-up and would be great to finish the feud in an old fashioned cage match. These two could've anchored the undercard!

Casket Match:
The Undertaker vs. The Ultimate Warrior
Winner: The Undertaker. Warrior was at the card and ran in during Hogan's match and had a program going with Roberts and Taker and just didn't have anyhting going at the time. This would've been a violent and heated match and a great rub to the Deadman and would've given Warrior a real meaningful feud.

Intercontinental Title Match:
Roddy Piper(Champion) vs. Bret Hart
Winner: Bret Hart. This is the only match from the original card I'd have left as is. They had a great match and I wouldn't change a thing!

World Tag Team Title Elimination Match:
Money Inc(Champions). vs, LOD vs. Nasty Boys vs. The Natural Disasters
Winners: LOD. All of these guys were on the card, but none of them had anything meaningful to do. This could've gotten LOD over as the biggest faces in the WWF and having them eliminate all three teams and really dominate, it would have been a great tag title match. Have the final two be Money Inc and LOD and have the finish from Summerslam 92 and it would rival the best tag matches of this era.

Taped Fist Match:
Big Bossman vs The Mountie
Winner: Bossman via KO. Again, they were on the card but not used well and they had an ongoing feud. Give them a gimmick match on the biggest card and let Bossman kick the shit outta Mountie. The crowd would really dig seeing it and maybe Mountie gets some colour and we've got a helluva match.

#1 Contender for Intercontinental Title:
"The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith vs. Shawn Michaels
Winner: Davey Boy Smith. The perfect curtain jerker, this would be used to setup the Hart/Smith Summerslam and Davey and HBK have great matches together. Making Shawn look like a great heel and getting Davey over would be a shoein and given time, could've stolen the show!

Jimmy Snuka vs.Papa Shango
Winner:Papa Shango Both guys are weird and Papa needed to get over as a heel and killing the Superfly in a good, quick match would get him some heat. Snuka could do some great spots to get the crowd to their feet and Shango could remind them how bad and scary he is.

Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana
Winner: Rick Martel. One of the longest running feuds in WWF history at the time, these two could've had a really solid and well worked match. Both guys could work their asses of and the crowd would love it. With lots of faces going over, Martel could get the crowd's ire with a Boston Crab and interference from Sherri.

New Foundation vs. Beverly Bros.
Winners: The Beverly Bros. Two entertaining, fastpaced teams could deliever a very solid bout and do some really great moves and work the crowd to make them believe they got their money's worth. Owen could strut his stuff and the Beverlys' were a force to reckon with. Should've happened.

Hope you guys enjoyed. Man, I wish this PPV had gone down like this.

[KingofOldSchool]

The show they actually put on was better than the card you just posted.

[weather vane]

Yeah that sounds great really. I would probably make the tage match just Money Inc. vs LOD. Also I would toss in a battle royal with Tatanka going over because they were really pushing him at the time.

[weather vane]

The show they actually put on was better than the card you just posted.

No ... no it wasn't.

[KingofOldSchool]

Yes it was.

Savage/Flair was great and the build for it was immense.

Hogan/Sid served its purpose as Hogan was really thinking of retirement after WM VIII. Having him go over Flair at the show wouldn't do anything in the long run.

Taker/Roberts was a good match as well, this was used to help elevate Taker as a babyface. The Warrior was fired right after Summerslam 1991 and didn't return until WM VIII so that match wouldn't even had been able to take place. Plus it wouldn't have been as good as Taker/Roberts.

HBK vs. Santana was also good. HBK's gimmick was still at it's early stages and his win over Santana at the PPV really helped him out. Him losing to the Bulldog wouldn't have helped him and Santana facing Martel wouldn't have done anything since both were in nowheresville at the time. Putting Tatanka over Martel was a better move than putting Martel over Santana.

[NeanderCarl]

Pretty much what KoOS said. Also, Jim Neidhart was gone so no New Foundation either. No Jimmy Snuka either, and the Martel/Santana and Bossman/Mountie feuds were ancient history by this point.

Personally, I liked WrestleMania VIII just the way it was, with one notable exception. A fucking DQ finish in the main event of a WrestleMania (any PPV for that matter) leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, whether The Anabolic Warrior made his big return or not.

[Loose Cannon]

that was my single greatest markout moment in history.

Yea, Mania 8 was great the way it was. Hogan/Sid, Macho/Flair, Bret/Piper and Taker/Roberts had awesome builds. The kind you don't see that much anymore.

[Crimson]

Funny how '92 had two of the best ppv's of it's kind. Wrestlemania and the best Rumble arguably. I do wish Martel and Santana coulda excelled more than they did .

[lort]

You can't remove Macho/Flair it's one of the best Wrestlemania matches ever.

[Jeritron]

Funny how '92 had two of the best ppv's of it's kind. Wrestlemania and the best Rumble arguably. I do wish Martel and Santana coulda excelled more than they did .

It seems like in many cases, 92 being one of them, the caliber of the respective events go hand in hand.

I always think of 2001 as having one of the best Rumbles ever and one of the best Wrestlemanias ever.

[Jeritron]

You can't remove Macho/Flair it's one of the best Wrestlemania matches ever.


Seriously, not to mention the buildup.

[wwe2222]

I think the actual WM8 is much better than what you are suggesting, alot of your matches on there are from outdated fueds it seems like.

though I think it is a shame that Hogan-Flair never main evented a wrestlemania

[thedamndest]

To nitpick, I don't think they did steel cages with anything other than finish by escape. Also, the casket match wasn't yet developed as such; the original required a normal pinfall and then nailing shut of the casket (plus it was called a coffin match). There were no three way tag matches either. That said, it's a pretty solid alternate universe/dream card, but I wouldn't replace VIII with it.

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah, that would have been nowhere near the best PPV ever or the best WM ever.

There are atleast 5 or 6 WrestleManias that would still be better... WM8 included.

[Jeritron]

I think the actual WM8 is much better than what you are suggesting, alot of your matches on there are from outdated fueds it seems like.

though I think it is a shame that Hogan-Flair never main evented a wrestlemania

For all of Ric Flairs legacy in NWA and WCW, I wish his legacy in WWF had been a bit stronger. He had a great run, but it was very short and as you said didn't have the big Wrestlemania dream match of Hogan/Flair.

Personally, I wish Flair was around long enough to face Hogan at WM9. Yokozuna/Bret was pretty lame. They weren't making Bret look good and would do it again the next year anyways with Bret going over. And since Hogan walked out of WM9 with the belt, it would have been ideal for it to have been Hogan/Flair instead.

I say 9 instead of 8 because Flair/Savage was a great match, a great wrestlemania main event, and a great build and I wouldn't want that sacrificed for the other or vice versa.

[weather vane]

you're all crazy

[The One]

I stopped reading once you said Hogan would go over Flair...

[Jeritron]

Thats what the WWF clearly would have done though...

[The One]

Any PPV were Hogan goes over Flair is automatically one of the worst PPVs of all time. Therefore, I no longer needed to read the rest of his post to know I wholeheartedly disagree with his booking o MAnia 8.

[RP]

I was there. I was like 11 but i was there.

[KingofOldSchool]

I was there. I was like 11 but i was there.

I would've been there too if my mom wasn't such a slut and spent her money on scuzzy boyfriends.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's not a bad card by any means, but I think you also have the gift of hindsight, which everyone has in retroactive booking, but it's still there.

For example, I could go back over any WrestleMania and change the performers around to get better results. The WWE is just an imperfect place.

[KingofOldSchool]

It's not a bad card by any means, but I think you also have the gift of hindsight, which everyone has in retroactive booking, but it's still there.

For example, I could go back over any WrestleMania and change the performers around to get better results. The WWE is just an imperfect place.

Doug Basham vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania X-7!!

[Theo Dious]

The only thing I would change about WMVIII would be to switch places between Savage/Flair and Hogan/Sid. Of course that never could have happened back then, but that placement diminished Savage's win and made the show end on a crappy DQ and a run-in by two painted-faced morons.

[NeanderCarl]

Funny how '92 had two of the best ppv's of it's kind. Wrestlemania and the best Rumble arguably. I do wish Martel and Santana coulda excelled more than they did .

You know, don't underrate SummerSlam '92 and Survivor Series '92 also. For all it's problems in 1992, WWE had a VERY solid year on PPV, with some great moments and matches.

SummerSlam featured the surprisingly good Warrior vs Savage title match (another DQ finish though) and the classic Davey Boy vs Bret I-C title switch.

Survivor Series saw Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels main event their first PPV, plus the return of Mr. Perfect to the ring in a very entertaining match (again, a fucking DQ finish!).

[Theo Dious]

I never thought about it, but at 3 out of 4 PPVs that year, either the WWF title match or a high-profile semi-main event ended in DQ. It would be hard to have the Royal Rumble end in a DQ of course, but the match preceding it, LOD vs the Natural Disasters, did end in a count-out.

[Loose Cannon]

1992 is hands down my favorite year pre 1997 in wrestling.

[NeanderCarl]

I always think highly of 1992 and 1993, but apparently I'm in the minority as far as 1993 goes.

[redoneja]

1992 is hands down my favorite year pre 1997 in wrestling.

Agreed.

[NeanderCarl]

I never thought about it, but at 3 out of 4 PPVs that year, either the WWF title match or a high-profile semi-main event ended in DQ. It would be hard to have the Royal Rumble end in a DQ of course, but the match preceding it, LOD vs the Natural Disasters, did end in a count-out.

Yeah, well LOD vs Natural Disasters was arguably a high profile match, seeing as it was for the WWF Tag Team championship, and was the semi-final spot on the Royal Rumble card. That ended in a count-out DQ.

Of course, the MAIN EVENT of WrestleMania, Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice, ended in a DQ. In addition, the Tag Team championship match again ended with a count-out.

The WWF World title match at SummerSlam, Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior was a countout DQ. Additionally, another match with a big build-up, Shawn Michaels vs Rick Martel, was also a non-decision, as was The Undertaker vs Kamala.

The match that was basically promoted as the main event of Survivor Series, The Perfect Team vs Razor Ramon and Ric Flair, was a DQ.

Despite top-notch PPVs throughout 1992, some of the booking decisions were more than questionable.

[Pepsi Man]

And they got by with it then, without so many of us armchair bookers (not that I don't do the same myself, mind you) posting on internet message boards how bad the booking was and all telling them how to do it better.

[NeanderCarl]

They got away with it because 80% of the audience thought it was real.

[NeanderCarl]

And 76% of statistics are simply made up.

[NeanderCarl]

The worst run of DQ finishes was at the December 1997 PPV, 'WWF DeGeneration X'. I think four out of eight matches ended in a DQ, including the main event. May as well have called it 'WWF DisQualification X'.

[KingofOldSchool]

WE'VE GOT TWO WORDS FOR YOU...YOU'RE DISSSSQQQUAAALLLIFFIIEED!!!