The original plan for the main event was the long-awaited bout between Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, the meeting between the two legends was even promoted on television in a mock press conference where WWF President Jack Tunney had announced Hogan as the number one contender to Flair's WWF Championship. Both Flair and Hogan had wrestled against each other in several house show matches and a televised tag match, but not in a televised main event singles match. WrestleMania VIII was changed to a double main event with Hogan wrestling Sid Justice, while Flair wrestled Randy Savage. For storyline purposes, Sid Justice lobbied to wrestle Hulk Hogan due to tensions starting between the two at that year's Royal Rumble, where Hogan was eliminated by Sid Justice. This maneuver on Sid's part led Hogan to helping rival Ric Flair eliminate Justice and then win not only the Royal Rumble but the WWF Championship in the process. This would make Ric Flair only the second man to win both the WWF and NWA World Heavyweight Titles, the first being the original "Nature Boy", Buddy Rogers.[3]
The fourth bout was a singles match in which WWF Intercontinental ChampionRoddy Piper defended his title against Bret Hart. Hart defeated Piper by pinfall after reversing Piper's sleeper hold into a pin, thus winning the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
The sixth bout was a singles match in which WWF ChampionRic Flair defended his title against Randy Savage. Savage defeated Flair by pinfall using a roll-up to win the title. At the time the company had a "no blood" policy. Nonetheless, Ric Flair was caught blading directly on camera and was fined several thousand dollars.[3] In one of his first appearances in the WWF, Shane McMahon was one of the backstage officials who attempted to keep Miss Elizabeth away from ringside during the Flair/Savage match. He then restrained Savage in the ensuing brawl after the contest.[3]
The ninth bout was a singles match between Owen Hart and Skinner. Hart won the match by pinfall using a roll-up.
The main event bout was a singles match between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice. Hogan won the match by disqualification after Justice's manager Harvey Whippleman interfered. The finish to the Justice-Hogan match actually did not occur as planned - the original plan was for Hogan to hit the leg drop on Justice and for Papa Shango to do a run in and break up the pin causing a disqualification; however, Gorilla Monsoon was late in cuing Papa Shango to head down to the ring, causing Justice to have to improvise by kicking out of the leg drop. Following the match, Justice and Shango attacked Hogan until the Ultimate Warrior made a surprise return, helping Hogan drive Justice and Shango away.
Reception
Critics praised the Intercontinental Championship match between Piper and Hart. Thomas Golianopoulos of Complex Sports ranked it at number 15 in his list of the 50 Greatest Matches in WrestleMania History, describing it as "A stiff match that veers from amateur wrestling to all-out street fight with a great finish."[4] Golianopoulos also ranked the Flair vs. Savage match at number 19 on the same list, praising the in-ring psychology despite an abrupt finish.[5] On the other hand, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave the Hogan/Justice main event negative two stars, citing their lackluster performance and the late entry of Papa Shango, which necessitated a hastily rewritten ending. The main event was also ranked by YouTube wrestling channel Cultaholic as the worst WrestleMania main event of all time in their 2019 ranking of every WrestleMania Main Event, [6] while saying that the WWF Championship Match between Flair and Savage should've been the main event in their 2020 list of 10 WrestleMania Matches That Closed The Show.[7]
Aftermath
Savage's primary opponent during the spring and summer of 1992 was Ric Flair, with the storyline over Flair's alleged past relationship with Elizabeth continuing to play a major factor. It was revealed later in WWF Magazine that the photos that Flair had shown of himself with Elizabeth were fakes, and that they were actually of Savage and Elizabeth. In real life, Savage and Elizabeth were about to separate, and did, with Elizabeth making her final WWF appearance on April 19, 1992 at the UK Rampage pay-per-view. WrestleMania VIII marked Elizabeth's last major pay-per-view appearance in the United States for the WWF.
Although Savage and Flair continued feuding, the Elizabeth aspect was dropped from the storyline, and the former couple's divorce was finalized in September 1992. Savage briefly addressed the divorce in an issue of WWF Magazine, but it was otherwise not mentioned in kayfabe.
Shawn Michaels began receiving his first major push as a main-event singles competitor, as he would challenge Randy Savage for the WWF Championship in Europe, while challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship in the United States, while occasionally teaming with Ric Flair in tag team matches against Hart and Savage. Michaels eventually won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The British Bulldog (who had won the title from Hart at the SummerSlam event in London, England in August) in October.
The Hulk Hogan-Sid Justice match was billed as Hogan's "last match", when in actuality, Hogan took a hiatus, due to the steroid scandal which was beginning to emerge in the news media.[3] Piper also took a hiatus from the ring following WrestleMania VIII. Roberts left the company and would return four years later, using a "born-again Christian" gimmick. Sid Justice was largely unsuccessful in post-WrestleMania matches against the Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker and eventually left the company, returning in 1995.
^Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
^ abcdefCawthon, Graham (2013). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 2: WWF 1990 - 1999. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ASINB00RWUNSRS.
