WrestleMania VIII

Areba mcintera singing opening the show , tito Santana sister reports Bobby Herman off to as usual quick start with his best spring board Monsoon setting them up. Tito v Shawn Micheals in the opening match A very strange pin opening this one. Followed by a stranger interview by Mean gene interviewing LOD with Paul Ellorey. Never felt the legion of Doom needed a manager. Piper hart a strong intercontinental title match. Flair savage a good word title match. Money inc and the natural disasters for the tag team title means all the gold is on the line in this event. Hogan Justice the second part of the so called double main event. The crowd is electric for Hogan. Which just makes you think if Hogan had been challenging for the title with flair still feels to me like this was the place that should have happened. A very messy finish is forgotten due to a return of a superstar from parts unknown. A still strong roster feels like it could have been used better but this is an enjoyable event not always for the right reasons sometimes things going wrong can be more entertaining.

As a child, "Wrestlemania 8" was the first Wrestlemania I remember really getting into (anything before this I was just too young for). Thus, it will always hold a special place in my WM rankings. However, more objectively speaking, I also feel as if it was a pretty quality event in its own right.

The highlights for me included...

-The debut of Shawn Michael's "Sexy Boy" persona. -The Undertaker absolutely manhandling Jake "The Snake" Roberts -"Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Bret "Hit Man" Hart squaring off in an emotional friend-vs.-friend contest -Ric Flair and "Macho Man" Randy Savage battling for the true affections of Elizabeth (a lot of emotion in this one) -WM debut of Tatanka, always a fun character.

Sadly, as with "Wrestlemania VII", the reason I can't give this event the full five stars is because the final Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice match falls flat. Maybe the least inspiring final match of a Wrestlemania since the first one.

Other than that, though, "Wrestlemania VIII" is a solid event filled with some great wrestling and some great characters. There are fewer matches in this event than ever before, but its very much a "quality over quantity" approach at play instead.

Okay I understand Wrestling has changed and evolved but god, Hogan pre nWo is so Hokey it's hard to watch. Hokey rest spot after rest spot in the Main Event, and don't get me started on Papa Shango's Botch! Alot of matches shoved into this card, but there's a couple that save it. If you can get over the generation gap and the absence of Wrestling then maybe watch this, otherwise stick to 96-now.

I would put this in the top 6 wrestlemanias of all time based strictly off the Bret/Piper & Savage/Flair matches. Piper's match with Bret is easily the best match of his career. Why Piper claims this was the first time he was pinned in 17yrs is beyond me,being he lost countless times in the old NWA. This Mania was also Undertakers first as a face,and Shawm Michaels first as a singles wrestler,facing Tito Santana,in a decent match to open the show. This Mania also contained a little behind the scenes controversy,most notably with Jake Roberts forcing McMahon to let him out of his contract before he went out for his match with Undertaker. Ric Flair also got himself into a bit of trouble by blading during his match with Randy Savage,which is one of the great forgotten matches in Wrestlemania history. Inexplicibly,the Road Warriors weren't used on this show,only for a interview,yet Skinner was. Still a great Mania worth watching again years later.

Shawn Michaels defeated Tito Santana via pinfall Tatanka defeated The Model via pinfall Natural Disasters defeated Tag Team Champions Money Inc. by countout Undertaker defeated Jake Roberts via pinfall Virgil, Big Boss Man, Sgt. Slaughter & Jim Duggan defeated The Mountie, Repo Man & the Nasty Boys via pinfall Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair for the World Wrestling Championship Bret Hart defeated Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Championship Owen Hart defeated Skinner via pinfall Hulk Hogan defeated Sid Justice via DQ

Overall Mark: D