WrestleMania V


WrestleMania V was a 1989 professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It was the fifth annual WrestleMania and took place on April 2, 1989, at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey for a second consecutive year. A total of 14 matches were contested at the event.
The main event was Hulk Hogan versus Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, billed "The Mega Powers Explode", which Hogan won after a leg drop, marking the first time that the world championship would change hands at WrestleMania. Miss Elizabeth was at ringside in a neutral corner for the first half of the main event before the referee sent her to the locker room area. The undercard included matches pitting Ravishing Rick Rude against The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, The Hart Foundation against Greg Valentine, and The Honky Tonk Man, and Demolition against Powers of Pain, and Mr. Fuji in a handicap match for the WWF Tag Team Championship. This event also went head to head with WCW's Clash Of The Champions VI.
Retrospective reviews for WrestleMania V have been mixed. Whilst the main event between Hogan and Savage was positively reviewed, criticism was levelled at the amount of matches, and their general level of quality.

Production

Background

is considered the World Wrestling Federation's flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view event, having first been held in 1985. It is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. Following the advent of Survivor Series in 1987 and then Royal Rumble and SummerSlam in 1988—WWF's four original annual pay-per-views—the four would eventually be dubbed the "Big Four". WrestleMania V was scheduled to be held on April 2, 1989, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the second consecutive year. This event, along with the previous year's WrestleMania IV, was advertised as being held at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, with both events taking place next door at Convention Hall, but sponsored by Donald Trump. The two events were the first time that WrestleMania was held at the same venue for two consecutive years, and would not happen again until 2025, and 2026, where WrestleMania 41, and WrestleMania 42 took place at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada in the Las Vegas area. Run-DMC performed a "WrestleMania Rap" for the audience. Other celebrity guests in attendance included Donald Trump, whose Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was the main sponsor of the event, and Morton Downey Jr.

Storylines

The Mega Powers Explode

The main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage, who for most of the previous year were a unified team that referred to themselves as The Mega Powers.
The unit began forming after Savage wrestled The Honky Tonk Man for his Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on the October 3, 1987 airing of Saturday Night's Main Event. After the match, which Savage won by disqualification, Honky Tonk Man enlisted the help of Bret Hart, and Jim Neidhart in attacking Savage. As Honky was ready to strike Savage with his guitar, Savage’s valet Miss Elizabeth came back to ringside accompanied by then-reigning WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hogan, who helped Savage even the odds.
Later, Hogan faced Andre the Giant in a rematch of their championship bout from WrestleMania III on the premiere episode of The Main Event, which was broadcast live on February 5, 1988, in Indianapolis. With help from Ted DiBiase, and a crooked official, Andre dethroned Hogan as champion and immediately surrendered the title to DiBiase as repayment for his assistance. After the contest, Andre’s victory was upheld due to WWF referees’ decisions being regarded as final. Still, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was declared vacant as Andre was not permitted to surrender the title to another wrestler. Thus, a tournament was conceived for WrestleMania IV for the vacant title. Savage advanced to the finals and, with a little help from Hogan, won the tournament, and the championship by defeating DiBiase in the finals. Hogan celebrated with Savage afterward, cementing their union.
Throughout the rest of 1988, Hogan and Savage feuded with many heel tag teams, such as the Mega Bucks team of DiBiase, and Andre and the Twin Towers, consisting of Akeem, and The Big Boss Man. While they never actually chased the company’s tag team championships, the Mega Powers stayed together as one of the strongest tag team forces in the company as the year ended.
Things slowly began to change as 1989 began, however. Hogan had requested that Elizabeth accompany him to the ring for several of his matches in addition to her duties as Savage’s valet. This led to several occasions where Elizabeth was placed in harm’s way, which did not sit well with the Macho Man. Another sign that tensions were beginning to mount came when Savage picked up Boss Man’s nightstick after a match with Akeem and glared at Hogan while he had his back turned, posing as he often did for the crowd.
On the January 7 Saturday Night’s Main Event in Tampa, Savage came out and cleared the ring with a steel chair after Hogan was receiving a post-match beating by the Twin Towers, and Akeem and Boss Man began threatening Elizabeth, Boss Man going so far as to grab Elizabeth's wrist. Savage did not bother to check on the injured Hogan, however, and left the ring. Elizabeth assisted Hogan backstage, which again angered Savage. This led to a confrontation between Savage and Elizabeth, but nothing came of it. Later in January during the Royal Rumble match, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage as he was trying to eliminate Bad News Brown.
Finally, on February 2 at the live The Main Event II program from Milwaukee, the tensions between Hogan and Savage boiled over. Once again, the Mega Powers and Twin Towers squared off. During a key point in the match, Akeem threw Savage through the ropes, causing him to land on Elizabeth. Hogan, distraught, picked her up and carried her backstage to the trainers’ room where he waited while she regained consciousness. Savage, meanwhile, was forced to take on Boss Man and Akeem alone until Hogan, at the behest of Elizabeth, came back out several minutes later. When Hogan went to tag into the match, Savage slapped him in the face and left the ring. Hogan managed to record the victory for the Mega Powers, but things were not over yet.
Immediately upon the conclusion of the match, Hogan returned to the trainers’ room where an angry Savage was waiting for him. The two got into a loud and physical confrontation, where Savage blamed Hogan for what happened to Elizabeth and accused him of being jealous of his championship reign. He also accused Hogan of only being his partner because he was lusting after Elizabeth. Hogan tried to calm the irate Macho Man down, but Savage had heard enough and struck Hogan with the title belt, knocking him to the floor. After punching the downed Hogan twice, Savage grabbed the belt again as Elizabeth went to check on Hogan. Savage grabbed her and threw her across the room, but before he could strike Hogan a second time, Brutus Beefcake came into the room and grabbed the belt from him. Savage eventually left the room, but not before assaulting Beefcake and the WWF officials who were dispatched to defuse the situation and tend to the injured Hogan.
Hogan then issued the challenge to Savage for what he still considered to be rightfully his, and Savage agreed to defend the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against him at WrestleMania. However, he would do so alone, as Elizabeth declined to be in his corner for the match; instead, she opted to be at ringside but in a neutral corner.

Other feuds

The second main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Rick Rude and The Ultimate Warrior over the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Rude and Warrior were booked to face each other in a "Super Posedown" at Royal Rumble in January 1989. The winner had to be decided by a fan reaction, where Warrior won the posedown. After the posedown, an angry Rude attacked Warrior. This led to a feud between the two and an Intercontinental Heavyweight Title match at WrestleMania.
The other main match on the undercard was Demolition versus The Powers of Pain, and Mr. Fuji in a handicap match for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Demolition was a dominant heel tag team since its debut in early 1987. They defeated Strike Force for the titles at WrestleMania IV. They had a successful feud with The Hart Foundation during their early reign. In the summer of 1988, a powerhouse babyface tag team The Powers of Pain debuted and feuded with Demolition over the tag titles. At Survivor Series, Demolition's manager Mr. Fuji turned on them after causing them to lose their Survivor Series match, culminating in a double turn as Demolition turned babyfaces and Powers of Pain turned heels. Powers of Pain made Mr. Fuji their manager, leading to their WrestleMania encounter with Demolition for the tag titles in a 3-on-2 handicap match.
Jake Roberts and André the Giant began their feud in the fall of 1988 after André interfered in one of Roberts' matches against Rude. When Roberts retrieved his snake, Damien, from his bag, André became distressed, then petrified at the sight of the snake. When it became apparent André was deathly afraid of the snake, Roberts threw the snake onto André, causing him to collapse to the mat and pass out from a heart attack. André recovered and swore revenge. Meanwhile, Andre's longtime adversary, Big John Studd returned to the WWF in late 1988, rejected a "welcome back" from longtime manager Bobby Heenan and, in becoming a face, said he was coming after André. The André-Roberts feud, meanwhile, continued into early 1989, and eventually, Studd agreed to become the special guest referee for their match at WrestleMania.
Shortly after Terry Taylor joined the WWF in the summer of 1988, he was packaged as "The Red Rooster" and, paired with Heenan as his manager, given a novice wrestler gimmick, someone who could not navigate his way through matches without constant instructions from Heenan. Eventually, the Red Rooster grew tired of Heenan's demeaning style of coaching and turned against him, becoming a face. Shortly thereafter, on an episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Heenan claimed to want to break off their relationship amicably, but it was a ruse to set Rooster up to be ambushed by Heenan's new protégé, long-time enhancement talent Steve Lombardi, who had just been reinvented as The Brooklyn Brawler.