WrestleMania IV Tournament Bracket

[HeenanGorilla]

For some reason, I decided to go back through Jack Tunney's biggest moments in WWF. One thing that stood out was his announcement of the Championship Tournament at WrestleMania IV. I actually watched it on YouTube the other day and it instantly brought me back to that Saturday morning where I first heard the announcement as a kid. When I started watching WWF in 1986, Hulk was already champion and was the only champion I had ever known, aside from that wacky Andre/DiBiase moment on The Main Event. That moment, of course, led to the title vacancy and the need for this tournament. But, I remember that feeling when I saw Snake and Savage and Valentine and Bam Bam on the screen in the bracket. The possibilities of a new champ blew my mind. I pictured how each would look with the belt. Duggan, not so much...Bam Bam, not bad...Muraco, cool! I wasn't anti-Hogan yet--far from it--but to possibly see the belt on someone new, well, like I said, I remember the excitement of that morning and when I watched the YouTube clip, the memory of that feeling when the bracket popped on the screen was still awesome!

As we all know, Savage won the tournament. And, as many of us have heard since then, the original plan was for DiBiase to win the tournament, with Savage beating Honky Tonk Man for the IC strap. Honky threw a fit and the plan was altered to give Savage the WWF belt instead. As much as I wish that mega-heel Million Dollar Man got a chance with the belt, this outcome led to the brilliant year-long Mega Powers exploding program--so it worked out, at least for me.

But, during Tunney's announcement, when the bracket was put on the screen, two matches were in different places. Originally, the Snake/Rude winner was set to face the Hogan/Andre winner and Duggan/DiBiase was moved to the bottom of the bracket. This way, presumably, a Hogan/DiBiase final was left as a possibility. However, as we now know, the Snake/Rude and Duggan/DiBiase matches were flipped. The Duggan/DiBiase winner would now get Hogan or Andre. At first I thought, "This must have been due to the Honky/Savage issue and this was the way to get Savage to face DiBiase in the final. BUT I realized that Savage was in the tournament from the onset. I thought he was supposed to beat Honky at WMIV?

Does anyone know when the Savage instead of DiBiase decision was made? It had to be before the tournament announcement, because Savage--although possible (Piper would later have a shot at IC and World title at Rumble 92, for example)--most likely would not have been in that original bracket if he was set for his IC win that same night. And if Savage winning was decided upon before the bracket was revealed, what was the reason behind switching Duggan/DiBiase and Snake/Rude?

 

[WWFfan25]

Excellent point! I checked it out and the order of the tournament bracket was definitely changed between the original announcement and Wrestlemania. I thought that maybe Beefcake and Savage were swapped for each other after Honky Tonk Man's complaints. But, like you said, that wouldn't explain why there was still another bracket change after Savage was included. My guess is it had something to do with not having wrestlers who weren't believable as actual title contenders advance too far. But, that seems silly...especially back then in the pre-internet age of kayfabe. Steamboat, for example, could have gone further and Jake/Rude could have had a believable winner come out of their match with either of them advancing. I will be interested to see what people respond with. Great catch that I never noticed before!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Therre were a few other issues at the time that led to changes in the match placement. Notably Jim Duggan's depush/short term firing and Ricky Steamboat's time away as well as Savage's issues with Honky.

Duggan had been in line for a big push when he debuted at Mania 3 but stalled it by getting busted with Iron Sheik. They gave him the Rumble win as a way to re-establish him but it didn't go over as planned, hence why he was fed to DiBiase early and the push never materialised.

Also, Hogan famously didn't want to work Rick Rude at any time. As he was the next "big heel" Vince wanted over it made sense to put him with Jake and launch their feid there rather than simply feed him to Hogan so soon.

The biggest issue that stands out of the bracket though was why 14 guys? It didn't work and forced there to be double eliminations to make the unbalanced tournament work.

Steamboat was making his return after his hiatus but by the time he did it was clear he didn't want to be there and Vince didn't want to push him to the level he had before. Losing to Valentine was a message to Steamboat of what he had given up... and he went straight to the NWA and won the title within a year... so Vince showed him huh?

I long felt they should have eliminated Hogan and Andre from the tourney completely and had them face off in some kind of cage or career match instead. They could easily have dropped Dino Bravo and Butch Reed from the tournament and it would have been an 8 man bracket... Or they could have added the winner from the Battle Royale (and even Bret Hart at the last minute as that was at the time to be the start of his solo face run) to make that more relevant.

Ultimately Honky held onto the belt for 4 more months but lost it far worse than he would have to Savage and he suffered thereafter. WM4's tourney could have been great but the mix of guys was just a little off... up and comers didn't really get to showcase like Rude, Bam Bam and Gang and the veterans like Muraco, Valentine and Bravo got nothing out of it either.

Beefcake taking the IC spot was politics on Hogan's behalf pure and simple, it was probably a concession to him for not getting to the final.

 

[thebarber]

Remembering back, the tourney only really ever had 3 realistic winners, that being Hogan, DiBiase or Savage.
Why a 16 man tourney wasnt the original plan nobody will know, Harley Race and JYD could have ably been used in the tourney to elevate Rude and say Savage.
I always wondered why Steamboat didnt go over Valentine in the first round so as we could have had a Savage vs Steamboat rematch from Wrestlemania 3 in the quarter finals but I guess there was no way Vince was going to reward Steamboat for taking those 5 months off in late 1987 off, though having Savage go over quickly on him like he did The Hammer I see no difference

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I'd have used Bret and Bad News... had Bret win the Battle Royal to get his place and face Valentine... Bad News just "takes him out" and takes his place...

Bret would lose to Andre quickly, but you'd have created a new star...

I'd have engineered it so Virgil was infact DiBiase's first round opponent, so he "got a bye" and when he won the title had Piper return and expose Tunney as being paid off, that he was the acting president and the match was continuing... Savage rolls up and wins and the story of the Summer is still Mega Powers/Mega Bucks but with an "election" between Piper and Ventura as a side to it.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I too was confused by this. I didn’t see it live when I was a kid, but I did rent it from my local video store. I actually thought the Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules match was included in the tournament and wondered why Warrior didn’t have his second match. They could have inserted this match in, gave them a double count out finish, still make Warrior look strong, and give another Heel a bye round.

 

[ServantofTwilight]

Does anyone know when the Savage instead of DiBiase decision was made? It had to be before the tournament announcement, because Savage--although possible (Piper would later have a shot at IC and World title at Rumble 92, for example)--most likely would not have been in that original bracket if he was set for his IC win that same night. And if Savage winning was decided upon before the bracket was revealed, what was the reason behind switching Duggan/DiBiase and Snake/Rude?

I would guess that if all the Honky/Savage stuff was true then it all played out before the bracket was revealed. As for the switching my best guess is they did that so they could get Dibiase into the finals with a bye. Remember they made a big deal over Savage having to wrestle more matches.

The biggest issue that stands out of the bracket though was why 14 guys? It didn't work and forced there to be double eliminations to make the unbalanced tournament work.

Not true. Lets say for the sake of argument in the opening round Roberts beats Rude. Then our bracket is this...

Hogan vs Andre
Dibiase vs Muraco
Savage vs Valentine
Roberts vs One Man Gang

14 men were used because they said that since Hogan and Andre were the last two champs they would receive byes. Going with 14 evened things out.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I would guess that if all the Honky/Savage stuff was true then it all played out before the bracket was revealed. As for the switching my best guess is they did that so they could get Dibiase into the finals with a bye. Remember they made a big deal over Savage having to wrestle more matches.



Not true. Lets say for the sake of argument in the opening round Roberts beats Rude. Then our bracket is this...

Hogan vs Andre
Dibiase vs Muraco
Savage vs Valentine
Roberts vs One Man Gang

14 men were used because they said that since Hogan and Andre were the last two champs they would receive byes. Going with 14 evened things out.

16 would have still worked better and allowed more and better tension. To be honest using Hogan and Andre in the tourney was the biggest mistake. They should have both been "out of it" by rule of Tunney, give them a career match or a cage match and give the 2 spots to other guys or even bring some guys in for it... even back then there were guys they could have thrown the money at for the night... Hell Flair was close to signing around that time as well, Muta, Funk, even Sgt Slaughter.