'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
WrestleMania V was mainly built around the growing tension between the Mega Powers, with WWF Champion Randy Savage facing off against Hulk Hogan in the main event of the show, with Savage's WWF title on the line and Miss Elizabeth in a neutral corner, having played an integral role to the implosion of the biggest tag team in the WWF at the time. The WWF had once again joined up with Donald Trump to hold WrestleMania V at Trump Plaza for the second year in a row.
The opening match of the card saw King Haku going against Hercules. Hercules dominated Haku at the start, throwing him outside the ring before hitting him with a suplex from the apron back into the ring. He would then chase Haku's manager, Bobby Heenan until he was caught from behind by Haku. Hercules would hit Haku with a Back Suplex, and transition into a Bridge Pin for the win and would celebrate his first WrestleMania victory in four attempts.
The second match of the night would see the Twin Towers of Akeem and Big Boss Man taking on the team of the Rockers of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. The Twin Towers started in the ring, with Akeem jiving around the ring awkwardly. Meanwhile, the Rockers would come to the ring to a great response from the live audience. The size advantage for the Twin Towers would win out in the end after Big Boss Man caught Michaels as he came off the top turnbuckle and Akeem would hit Air Africa for the victory.
The next match saw the Million Dollar Man face off against Brutus the Barber Beefcake. DiBiase would greet Donald Trump at ringside as he made his way to the ring. The two would begin to brawl outside the ring, with Beefcake also going after DiBiase's bodyguard Virgil. The match would end in a draw with both DiBiase and Beefcake being counted out by the referee. The two would continue to brawl after the match with Beefcake putting both Virgil and Ted DiBiase in a sleeper hold. Beefcake would then go to get his shears from outside the ring only for both DiBiase and Virgil to escape.
The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers would face off against the Bushwhackers in the next match. The Bushwhackers would get the jump on the Rougeau brothers as Jacques and Raymond continued to escape outside of the ring to regroup. While the Rougeau's would gain an advantage, the Bushwhackers would recover to hit Jacques with a Battering Ram followed by a Gut Buster and the referee hit three before Jacques could get his shoulder up, nor could Raymond break up the pin.
The following match was another singles competition between Mr. Perfect and the Blue Blazer. Curt Hennig had debuted the Mr. Perfect gimmick in late 1988, and would go undefeated up until that point and wrestled a decent match with the Blue Blazer. The two had a back and forth match before Hennig hit the Blue Blazer with the Perfect Plex for the win. Following the match, Rap group Run DMC came into the ring to perform the WrestleMania rap and a few more songs to entertain the crowd.
After the Run DMC performance, the Tag Team titles were on the line in a match between Demolition against the Powers of Pain. The Powers of Pain were accompanied by Demolition's former manager Mr. Fuji, who would be joining the challengers to make the match a two on three handicap match. At the end of the fight, Mr. Fuji would attempt to hit Ax with the salt, however, Ax would dodge the salt, and instead, the salt would blind Warlord.
Dino Bravo would face off against Ronnie Garvin in the next match, with Bravo getting the jump in the fight, attacking Garvin as the latter was trying to throw his towel into the crowd. The three-minute match would end after Bravo hit Garvin with a Side Slam. After the match, Garvin would attack Bravo from behind and stomp Bravo's manager Frenchy Martin.
Another tag team match would be next with the Brain Busters, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, taking on the former Tag Team champions in Strike Force. Halfway through the bout, Santana would hit Martel with a flying forearm while aiming for Tully Blanchard. Martel would then walk back up the ramp leaving Santana to fight Blanchard and Anderson alone. Anderson and Blanchard would finish off Santana by hitting him with a Spike Piledriver for the victory. Mean Gene would interview an irate Rick Martel who called Santana a loser and effectively ended their tag team.
The next segment of the show was an in-ring Piper's Pit, however. instead of Piper coming down for the segment Brother Love came down to the ring in a kilt. Brother Love would be interrupted by Morton Downey Jr and, later, the real Roddy Piper. Piper would square off against Brother and tears into the manager while Downey Jr looked increasingly bored. Piper would proceed to rip off Brother Love's kilt and sending him scampering from the ring. Piper would then find himself alone in the ring with Downey Jr, with the controversial TV show personality blowing smoke in Piper's face. The tense exchange would end with piper spraying Downey in the face with a fire extinguisher.
Andre the Giant would face off against Jake 'the Snake' Roberts with Big John Studd as the special guest referees. Andre would slam Roberts into an exposed turnbuckle to get the early advantage. Jake would eventually use his speed to get the upper hand. Andre the Giant would fall and tangle himself in the ropes giving Roberts a chance to lay into the giant with unprotected shots. Later in the match with Jake on the outside of the ring, Ted DiBiase would attempt to steel Roberts' snake, Damien. While Roberts chased DiBiase up the ramp, Andre the Giant would attack Big John Studd from behind resulting in Roberts winning by Disqualification.
The next match would see Greg Valentine and Honky Tonk Man facing off against the Hart Foundation. Bret Hart would start in the ring with the Honky Tonk Man and would dominate the early going. Midway through the match, Honky Tonk Man would hit Bret with his "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" finisher, but would tag in Valentine instead of going for the pin himself. The Hart Foundation would win after Bret Hart hit the Honky Tonk Man with Jimmy Hart's Megaphone for the three-count.
The second title match of the night would see Rick Rude challenge The Ultimate Warrior for Warrior's Intercontinental Title. The Ultimate Warrior would seemingly try to attack Rude before the bell after swinging for a clothesline after coming from the ropes. Warrior managed to lock Rude in with a Bear Hug but Rude would fight out of it both times. Rude almost hit Warrior with the Rude Awakening, but Warrior would fight out. At the end of the match Warrior attempted to suplex Rude from the apron but Bobby Heenan would hold down the Ultimate Warrior's legs causing Rude to land on Warrior and pin him.
The next match saw Bad News Brown face off against Hacksaw 'Jim Duggan'. Bad News started the fight early, landing several early punches. However, the two brawlers would trade blows throughout the fight. Duggan would avoid Brown's Ghetto Blaster finished and Duggan would hit him with a leaping Clothesline. Brown would then roll out of the ring and bring back a steel chair. On seeing Brown return to the ring, Duggan retrieved his faithful 2 by 4. The two clashed weapons as the referee ended the fight in a double disqualification.
The penultimate match on the card saw the Red Rooster take on his former manager in Bobby 'the Brain' Heenan. Heenan would come to the ring holding his ribs after he was attacked by the Ultimate Warrior following the earlier title fight and was accompanied by the Brooklyn Brawler. The match lasted roughly 30 seconds, with the Red Rooster getting in most of the offense. Heenan would charge shoulder first into the ring post, and the Red Rooster would cover Heenan for the three-count. Brooklyn Brawler would then beat down Red Rooster after the bell rang to get a measure of revenge on Heenan's behalf.
The final match of the card and the main event saw the WWF title match between the Mega Power team of Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. Despite being the champion, Savage entered first, followed by Miss Elizabeth, and lastly the challenger Hulk Hogan. Savage would spend much of the start of the match at ringside trying to avoid Hogan at all costs.
Midway through the match, the referee would clear Miss Elizabeth from ringside as Macho Man kept on targetting her while she was at ringside. After Elizabeth was cleared from ringside, Savage would hit the elbow drop off the top rope, but Hogan would kick out and begin to "Hulk Up". Hogan would then hit Savage with a Big Boot and followed it up with the Atomic Leg Drop to regain the title at the close of the show.
You can see the review of previous WrestleMania moments here:
#5 The Rocker's WrestleMania Debut
The Rockers would make their WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania V, in a tag team match against the Twin Towers. The Rockers would have several quick tags in and out of the ring, using their speed and agility to take on the bigger team.
However, the tide would turn as the Twin Towers would use their size to double team Marty Jannetty as Boss Man and Akeem would double team Marty Jannetty and isolate him in the ring,
Big Boss Man would pin Jannetty's arms while Akeem would go for the splash. Jannetty would avoid the splash and get the hot tag to Michaels.
As Michaels and Jannetty built momentum, Big Boss Man would catch Michaels out of mid-air and hit him with a Powerbomb. Boss Man would then tag in Akeem to hit Air Africa and would cover Shawn Michaels for the pinfall victory.
#4 Demolition Successfully defends the Tag Team Titles
Most Championships had a decent record when defending their titles at the biggest show of the year. Hogan had initially defended his title at WrestleMania 2 and 3 against King Kong Bundy and Andre the Giant Respectively. In the first four WrestleMania events, the champion would lose 3 times but the titles would only change hands at WrestleMania 3 when Ricky 'the Dragon' Steamboat would defeat Macho Man Randy Savage for the title.
However, the Tag Team titles frequently changed hands over WrestleMania, at the original event the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff upset the champions the US Express. WrestleMania 2 saw the British Bulldogs defeat the Dream Team for the titles in Chicago. The belt wasn't defended at WrestleMania 3, but Demolition would win the belts at WrestleMania 4, defeating Strike Force.
Demolition would successfully beat the Powers of Pain, despite the challengers having an extra man in Mr. Fuji in their corner. It was actually Mr. Fuji that would take the pinfall loss after taking out his teammates with salt, before being caught in a double team move by Demolition for the win.
#3 The End of Strike Force
Strike Force was one of the most prominent tag teams in the WWF in the late 80s and had prominent feuds with the Islanders, Hart Foundation, and Demolition. Their final feud and Wrestlemania match together would be against the Brain Busters at WrestleMania 5.
During their match, Tully Blanchard lifted up Tino Santana for an Atomic Drop only for Martel to tag himself in. Santana would no-sell the Atomic Drop and bounce back off the ropes and attempted to hit Blanchard with a flying forearm. Blanchard would fall to the ground and Santana would connect with Martel instead.
Martel would spend a few minutes on the apron selling the forearm before Santana went to tag his partner in. Instead of accepting the tag, Santana would drop down off the apron and refuse to tag himself in. Eventually, Martel would walk back up the ramp towards the back leaving Santana to take on both members of the Brain Busters by himself.
Martel would rant about how he didn't need Santana and that Santana was a loser. The two would feud over the course of several months, with Martel turning into his heel persona "The Model" facing off the still face Santana. The two would feud until Survivor Series in November 1989, but would sporadically have matches through 1990 as well.
#2 Rick Rude becomes the Intercontinental Champion
Of the many wrestlers to hold the WWF Championship belt, Rick Rude belongs up there with names like Mr. Perfect and Ted DiBiase. While Rude would go on to win a major title with WCW, the only title he ever won while at the WWF was the Intercontinental title. Rick Rude would win the title after taking it off the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 5.
Rude and Warrior had faced each other in the lead up to the event solely in tag team matches, with Ultimate Warrior teaming with Jake Roberts while Rude teamed with Andre the Giant. However, the two had a memorable posedown contest in the lead up to the event, which would end with Heenan spraying Warrior in the face with the baby oil and Rude would then attack the champion with a metal pose bar.
In the match itself, Rude would wear custom tights with the Intercontinental title airbrushed on the front with Warriors face on his rear. Rude would win the match via pinfall while Heenan held down the Ultimate Warrior's legs. It would be Rude's first and only title win in the WWF.
#1 The End of the Mega Powers
The story of the implosion of the Mega Powers was a story told a year in the making. The slow-burning feud between Hogan and Savage had the initial seeds planted a year earlier at WrestleMania IV, and the WWF slowly built towards Savage and Hogan facing off again at the main event of WrestleMania V with Savage's WWF title on the line. Savage had grown slowly more and more suspicious of the Hulkster, with his mind growing more and more paranoid, especially when it came to Miss Elizabeth.
When it came to the main event of WrestleMania V, Miss Elizabeth would play a big part in the first half of the match. By her mere presence, Elizabeth would catch the attention of Macho Man. However, Elizabeth would try and help both Savage and Hogan when they fell to the outside. The referee would later expel Elizabeth from ringside, leaving Hogan and Savage to face off one on one.
Savage would hit Hogan with his Diving Elbow Drop but Hogan would kick out at one and a half. Hogan would then hit a Big Boot and his Atomic Leg Drop to win the fight and regain his WWF title for the first time in over a year.
Following the match, Miss Elizabeth would manage Hulk Hogan, while Savage would align himself with the Sensational Sherri.
