20. WRESTLEMANIA VIII
Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair, the wrestling dream match that never happened.
While it would be interesting to see if the two could pull off a classic match, the end result of Flair instead defending the WWF Championship against “Macho Man” Randy Savage was more than satisfactory. One might assume, given the technical prowess of the men in the ring, they actually made the better choice. An excellent match, a world title change, blading in a zero-blood era, Flair stealing a kiss from Miss Elizabeth, a post-match brawl for the ages and Savage’s classically ridiculous victory promo – this one had it all.
Bret Hart breaking out as a singles star and winning the Intercontinental Championship from “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is also an incredibly under-rated match and moment.
The rest of the card wasn’t altogether notable – although Jake Roberts and Undertaker were probably the most terrifying men I’d ever seen as a child – but I have to praise WrestleMania VIII for straying from the traditional “marathon Mania” and reigning it in to focus more on the important stories. This is the first annual event where the WWF applied the “less is more” mentality, and it really worked for them.
