The road to WrestleMania 31 is in full swing and throughout the years the biggest event on the WWE calendar has provided memories that will last a lifetime, shaped careers and has been a showcase for the greatest matches in the history of the company.
Countdown to WrestleMania 31: 3 Best Moments from WrestleMania 2
Over the next month, Sports World News will delve into each of the first 30 WrestleMania events and re-live the best moments in each edition of the landmark "Show of Shows."
In the aftermath of one of the most successful wrestling events of all time in WrestleMania III, the WWE had the makings of a great wrestling tradition on its hands. In 1988 for the first and only time at a WrestleMania event, the WWE Championship was vacated and a 14-man tournament was created to crown a new champion.
Countdown to WrestleMania 31: 3 Best Moments from WrestleMania III
This was the first of back-to-back WrestleMania shows to emanate from Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, N.J. and it took place in front of a crowd of 18,165 fans.
Here are our top three moments from WrestleMania IV:
3) Babyface Bret: With 16 wrestlers locked up in the tournament and the WWE Championship scene taking up most of the card, the WWE needed something else to do with its other talents and a 20-man battle royal took place with a huge trophy as the prize.
The contest came down to babyface Junkyard Dog and heels Bret "Hitman" Hart and Bad News Brown as the final three. Hart and Brown formed an alliance, getting rid of JYD. Brown then swiftly turned on Hart and threw him out to win the match.
After the contest, Hart attacked Brown from behind and destroyed the trophy in the ring to the delight of the crowd, starting the slow turn of Hart and partner Jim "Anvil" Neidhart into babyfaces.
2) Demolition Wins Gold: Ax and Smash became one of the greatest tag teams in professional wrestling history, but it never would have happened if not for their first WWE Tag Team Championship win at WrestleMania IV.
Demolition defeated Rick Martel and Tito Santana, collectively known as Strike Force, after Ax hit Santana with manager Mr. Fuji's cane, allowing Smash to collect the pinfall victory and the titles for the team.
Demolition, which for some reason isn't in the Hall of Fame, went on to capture the WWE Tag Team Championships three times, but it all started with their first reign at WrestleMania IV.
1) Savage Wins the Big One: "Macho Man" Randy Savage will finally take his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame this year and he first won the richest prize in the game at WrestleMania IV.
Savage won the tournament to become the undisputed WWE World Heavyweight Championship by wrestling four matches that night in Atlantic City.
Miss Elizabeth was by Savage's side (wearing four different dresses that matched Savage's change of tights in each match) as Savage defeated Butch Reed, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and One Man Gang to get into the finals.
Savage then last toppled the "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase with some help from Hulk Hogan, last hitting the flying elbow drop from the top rope to win the WWE Championship for the first of two times in his career.
Savage was on top of the mountain in pro wrestling after one of the finest nights in his career culminated with his first reign as WWE Champion.
Looking Ahead: Hogan and Savage were all smiles on this night as Savage was on top of the WWE and Hogan was his tag team partner, but as we'll look at next time, the Mega Powers were set to explode heading into WrestleMania V.
Rank-O-Mania: As we go through each year, we will rank each WrestleMania as they come along. WrestleMania IV was a very memorable event, but was also very long and drawn out at times. With 16 matches on the card, it took a while to get through and while it's better than the first two, it's not as good as WrestleMania III.
1) WrestleMania III
2) WrestleMania IV
2) WrestleMania I
3) WrestleMania 2
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