Top 5 Moments of Wrestlemania V
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:
WrestleMania I
WrestleMania II
WrestleMania III
WrestleMania IV