From: ventura@camelot.bradley.edu (Brian Wawczak)
Subject: Wawczak at WrestleMania
Summary: highlights
Organization: Bradley University
Distribution: na
Date:  7 Apr 92 19:18:37 GMT

Well, here it is folks...the long awaited match report from me on the live
WrestleMania event. First of all, I should tell everybody that I would have
posted this earlier, but our nn notes had been down for four days. Anyways, on
with the post...

Chris Taylor and I left Peoria at 10:15 am after grabbing a quick bite to eat
in the Geisert Hall cafateria. The weather was perfect for the trip there!
Sunny as could be, and a beautiful temperature of 65 degrees.

After a quick stop in Danville, Il, which is on the Ill-iana border, we finally
got to Indy at about 2:00 pm, which made our trip there only three hours---
record time!

We parked in a parking garage across the street for $6, which was a little
steep, but it was very close to the Dome. We walked around beautiful downtown  
Indianapolis for about a half an hour.i We took some pictures of the state
capitol building, and we even went into a small mall. They were selling
WrestleMania merchandise. ($20 WM T-shirts, $8 Hitman sunglasses, $4 Macho Man
Bandana).   

On our way back to the Dome, I saw Chicago's WLUP AM 1000 and Chevy Sportsfire
celebrity Chet Coppock. I said "Hey Chet!", and he responded, "Hey, How ya 
doing!"....I had a feeling that this was going to be a great day.

They finally started to let people in at about 2:45 pm. Chris and I quickly
took a peak into the arena to see where the ring was, and lo and behold, it
was on the 50 yard line! Maybe they did sell the joint out, we said!

The crowd in general was probably the largest assembly of stupid, mark, hicks
in the history of manknd. I would say that 90 percent of the people either
were smoking, wearing a tank top, or had missing appendages---but that's ok.

Some guy sitting below us on the end had a giant yellow and red "FLAIR RULES"
poster. He started parading it around, and people were booing him. He 
probably got more heat 30 minutes before the show started than Tatanka,Martel,
Owen, Skinner, Santana, and Michaels got combined. 

There were about 6 hick guys behind us doing really bad imitations of Flair...
"WOOOOEEEEE", they kept screaming at irregular intervals. Then they would say,
in a very twang-y voice, "To be the man....ya got to beat the man...HA huh!"

Chris and I had fun listening to a father and his two sons make their
predictions before the matches started. All three of them picked Matador and
Skinner to win. Chris and I just laughed. Then, I said to Chris, "I heard
that The Ultimate Warrior is gonna come out in the main event!". The little
kid in front of me looked like he shit in his pants as his eyes became really
big. Then, he whispered in his dad's ear what he just heard.

The funniest thing that happened, though, was the 16 year old mark sitting
next to me wondering were President Tunney was sitting. He told his brother
that he bets Jack Tunney was sitting in the front row.

I walked down to the floor to try to finf Dean Miller, but I didn't see him...

Chris and I were disappointed in the replay screens above the ring...we thought
they would be bigger than that. Also, we were somewhat amazed that 5 or 6 guys
were actaully stationed on top of the scaffolding for the entire event. I 
guess they were up there in case one of the diamondvisions broke down.

The crowd really filled in, and we estimated that there was close to 60,000
people there. The top 10 or 12 rows in theupperdeck were sparcely filled,
and there were large open areas on the floor. But, I bet McMahon would
say that they didn't put seats there because the view was blocked by the
scaffolding.

The actually wrestling, we thought, sucked. The only two goods matches as far
as workrate was concerened was Piper/Hart and Flair/Savage. Chris took down
all of the official times on his watch. I'll give these along with our
ratings for the matches on a four star scale:

Match                  Time                  Rating
Michaels d. Matador    10:32.28              *1/2 (Too many rest holds for 1st
                                                                          match)Undertaker d. Snake    6:43.21               *1/2 (Predictable, UT messed up his                                                   tombstone on the floor)
Hitman d. Piper        13:43.21              *** (Awesome! Crowd influenced RP
                                                  into not using ring bell,   
                                                  great Hart pin!)
8-Man (Faces d. Heals)  6:30.67              1/2* (Lame, screw Ray Combs!)
Savage d. Flair        18:07.58              ***1/2 (great Macho bachflip over
                                                  the top rope, I clearly saw
                                                  Flair blade himself on the
                                                  outside)   
Tatanka d. Martel       4:31.52               1/2* No heat whatsoever
ND d. Money Inc.        8:33.85               * (I thought for sure LOD would
                                                come down the aisle and chase
                                                Money Inc back to the ring)
Owen d. Skinner          1:08.79              * (C'mon!!!!!! I actually thought
                                                this would have been a great #1
                                                match, generating some major
                                                heat with some good Hart spots)
   -This kind reminded me of Tueday Night Titans about 6 years ago when Barry
   Windham pinned Mr. Fuji in 12 seconds because the show was running late.

Hogan d Sid          12:27.16                **1/2 (No wrestling from Hogan
                                            whatsoever, but, he did a hell of
                                            a job selling Sid Powerbomb. Very

  happy that Sid still has his credibility by kicking out of the LDOD(tm).

One question: Why PAPA SHANGO? The mark next to me couldn't figure out who
it was....hell, at first, I thought it was Big Van Vader! 

But, I have to say, when the music started, and The Ultimate Warrior came
running down to the ring with his hand in the air, it was un-fucking-believable!I swear to God that everybody in the Dome went nuts! I even stood up and
said "YESSSS!!!!". When he started cleaning house, it was incredible. I don't
care if you hate wrestling, hate McMahon, hate Hogan, hate the Warrior, hate
yourself, ...when you get 60,000 people screaming like that at the top of their
lungs, it was magic! It was electric! It was awesome!!!!!!

If I learned one thing from this event, it has to be not to believe a thing 
you hear on the net. Everybody was saying the attendance was going to be
25,000, Savage was going to win, and Hogan was going to pin Eudy.

I was genuinely surprised at the outcome of Savage/ Flair and Hogan/ Justice.

Kudos to:  
   1. Vince McMahon (wrestling is as strong as ever!)
   2. John Mastrangelo
   3. THOMAS J. MCDONNELL
Especially John and Thomas. They took a lot of shit here on the net, and they
deserve an apology and congratulations on their picks.

Also, I think that we here on the net analyze stuff too much. Let's remember,
this is just pro-wrestling, and I think sometimes we take stuff too seriously
when it comes to workrate, etc.

When Hogan came out to the ring, the place went crazy. I don't think he did
more than three wrestling moves the entire match, but it doesn't matter, becausehe is Hulk Hogan and that is what people want to see. When he was in the ring,
people weren't thinking about steroids, drugs, workrate, WCW, Jushin Liger,
or anything else. They were thinking about the mighty Hulkster kicking ass, and
that's what they saw, and they left happy.

Hogan is wrestling, and all the crap that went down on the net over the past
3 months dealing with Hogan jobbing for Sid and going to Japan is just that,
crap. Hogan aint going anywhere! Hogan IS wrestling.

Biggest Pops at WrestleMania:
1. Hogan's entrance
2. Warrior's Save
3. Bushwackers entrance in the Dark Match (Don't ask me why, but I swear to
   God that at leat 40,000 people were doing the "Bushwacker Bounce".
4. Savage's pin of Flair
5. Savage first almost pin of Flair
6. Savage second almost pin of Flair.

BTW, we looked up at the broadcast booth during Flair's match, and Heenan was
standing up the entire match. Bobby is truly a consumate actor and entertainer.

Also, did anybody notice JJ Dillon come down to the ring when Elizabeth came
down? It was kinda nice to see him at ringside during a Flair match...it
brought back some memories.

We never did see Luger on the Big Screen, when was his interview?

Souveniers I bought:
 1. $5 Dollar WM8 program and Indianapolis Journal special WM edition. 
    I though about getting a $2 soda to get a WM cup, but I never did. I kinda
    wish I had, though. 
    I now have a program from every WrestleMania except #1 and #5. Does
    anybody out there possibly have one form WM% that they would like to sell?

Finally, as we were leaving the HoosierDome, there were tremendous winds
and air currents right outside the doors. My Sox hat almost blew off my head.
I guess these are created by the giant air fans that keep the Dome inflated.

As we were leaving, we saw a long wghite limousine, but we couldn't see who was
in it. I remarked that I thought I saw Pat Patterson in there, and the lady
in front of me started to chuckle. I guess they're not all marks out there....

I hope everybody enjoyed this, and please comment on it if you wish...

Thanks for reading.........
  

--
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##    The opinions expressed above are those of the most prolific heel in   ##
##                  the history of rec.sport.pro-wrestling                  ##
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##    Brian "The Legend Killer" Wawczak        ventura@camelot.bradley.edu  ##
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  "I'm a 60 minute man, and I'm ALL NIGHT LONG! WHOOOOOO!!" -Slick Ric Flair