WWE Set to Add More Moments to New Jersey’s WrestleMania Legacy
By Bryan Heaton
Championship Tournament, WrestleMania IV
The first time WrestleMania hit New Jersey, there was no WWF Champion, as the title was then known. In February of 1988, Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan – with the assistance of a crooked referee – on The Main Event to win the championship. When he immediately tried to give sell the title to “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, President Jack Tunney declared the title vacant.
To crown a new champion, a tournament was scheduled to take place at WrestleMania IV. Hogan and Andre, as the two former champions, received first round byes – but faced off in the second round. In a rematch of their not-great but memorable match at WrestleMania III, the two fought to a double disqualification.
The remainder of the tournament was similarly lackluster – in fact, only one superstar really put on any good matches. That would be “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who ultimately won the tournament with four victories in a single night. The final match between Savage and DiBiase was probably the best of the entire tourney.
But with a 14-man tournament airing in one night, WWE wasn’t about to have a 13 match card just devoted to the bracket. What about the tag titles? Or other rivalries? So to make room, there was a lot of short matches, a time limit draw – to earn a bye for One Man Gang – and the double DQ between Hogan and Andre, which granted a bye to DiBiase.
Even though the tournament wasn’t great, it set the stage for WWE to (eventually) hold their King of the Ring tournament on pay per view.