Wrestlemania VIII

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Wrestlemania 8 was the eighth Wrestlemania event produced by World Wrestling Federation which took place on 26th April 1992

## Background

The main match heading into the show is WWF Champion Rick Martel defending against Koko B.Ware and Haku in a triple threat match in the biggest New Generation match. To better explain the build-up of this match and how important each man is to the New Generation, we have to go through each one of them:

Haku is the force of the New Generation, he had been a tag team division member in the 80s and the Golden Era with partners like Tama and Andre The Giant, in 1990 he started wanting much more as he beat down legends to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, even turning on Andre The Giant and injuring him at Summerslam 1990. It was him who officially began the New Generation era at G1 Finals 1990 where he cashed in in form of a match against Ultimate Warrior and he headbutted Warrior 26 times in a row to become WWF Champion by ref stoppage as Warrior passed out and both men were completely bleeding from the head, shifting the product from family friendly to a bit more edgy. Haku was the most dominant WWF Champion as he not only defeated, but destroyed legends of the Golden Era such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase, even WCW's Ric Flair on the first ever co-promotional show between companies, WAR. He also dominated against future stars such as Bret Hart, Mr.Perfect, British Bulldog and more. Tired of not having true challenges, he put his championship on the line in the Royal Rumble match entering at number 1 and going all the way to the final 3 where he was eliminated by Koko B.Ware in a big pop, Haku was no longer champion after 448 days of dominance.

Rick Martel is the creator of the New Generation, he coined the term in the start of 1990 calling out WWF Champion Hulk Hogan saying it was time for the "new generation of talent" to rise up, he was defeated by Hogan in 5 minutes which led to a promo different from what we normally see as Martel called out Hogan for being "Vince McMahon's golden boy" which was the first time Vince was mentioned as the owner of WWF, Rick Martel was suspended for this but didn't stop when he returned as he kept trying to make Hogan lose the WWF Championship and it finally worked at Summerslam 1990 as he helped Undertaker win the title. Martel continued his feud with Hogan finally beating him at Wrestlemania 7, he won the Money in the Bank briefcase in June and injured Hulk Hogan in a ladder match at Summerslam 1991, Martel could cash in at any time but while Haku was champion, he knew he didn't stand a chance. Royal Rumble 1992 came and he entered but was quickly eliminated not even getting to the final 4, Koko B.Ware became the champion but Martel after the match superkicked him and finally decided to cash-in becoming WWF champion to huge boos from the crowd.

Koko B.Ware is the heart and soul of the New Generation, ever since his debut in 1986 he has captivated the fans with his charisma, he became Ricky Steamboat's protege and shockingly won the WWF Championship from him in an open challenge at Superstars 100 but Steamboat would turn on him and Sting cashed in to end Koko's reign at not even 1 day. In 1988, Koko B.Ware suffered a real life car crash and no one knew if he would ever wrestle again due to his injuries. At Wrestlemania 5, Hulk Hogan had a mystery tag team partner to face Twin Towers and out came the returning Koko B.Ware in the biggest pop of the night but even with this, Koko wasn't pushed as he stayed in the midcard losing to people like Dino Bravo and Brutus Beefcake which infuriated the crowd more and more, he became Intercontinental champion at Wrestlemania 6 and while it was a long reign, it wasn't eventful as he got bad challengers and 0 storylines, after he lost the Intercontinental Championship he was yet again relegated to the lower midcard losing to Golden Era people who were way out of their prime, the crowd continued chanting for Koko B.Ware and loving him, during Haku's matches the fans started chanting Koko B.Ware at him and even during a lot of his promos, no one could escape how popular Koko was, a true underdog. At Royal Rumble 1992, Koko B.Ware entered at number 29 to a huge pop and was the one who eliminated Haku, he lastly eliminated Randy Savage to become WWF Champion yet again as the crowd went wild, confetti and pyro went off but then everyone's hearts got broken as Rick Martel superkicked Koko and cashed in on him to win the WWF Championship, yet again Koko had been stolen the title in less than a day as the crowd booed vigorously.

And this match is the pinnacle of the New Generation, it's the force vs the creator vs the heart and soul, during the build-up Haku congratulated Koko but said that he didn't pin him so he will get the title back, Haku also revealed that in the coming months if someone ever manages to pin him, he's out of WWF as he can acnowledge that someone is better than him. Rick Martel and Koko B.Ware have been in constant brawls since the rumble.

Shawn Michaels turned on his long time tag team partner Marty Jannetty and turned heel to kickstart his singles career, he wants to make an immediate impact as he challenged Intercontinental champion Bret Hart to a match tonight which he accepted as he saw a lot of young Bret in Shawn Michaels, Shawn doesn't want respect from Bret and spit in his face

Hulk Hogan returned at Survivor Series 1991 after an injury and he started being involved in the tag team division with Brutus Beefcake, they have risen up the ranks and tonight they'll face tag team champions Money Inc, Hogan and Dibiase have a former history together as Hogan was Dibiase's first feud when he debuted in WWF in 1987

At Wrestlemania 6, Texas Tornado debuted as he and Mr.Perfect joined up to form the second iteration of Ringmasters, throught 1990 they tried to get British Bulldog to join them but Bulldog answered with a lowblow at Summerslam 1990 after losing a Intercontinental Championship match, they feuded for a while until Bulldog realized at Wrestlemania 7 that his spot should be on The Ringmasters and joined them. At Summerslam 1991, British Bulldog defeated Randy Savage to win the Intercontinental Championship, Texas Tornado and Mr.Perfect issued their revenge as they beat up Bulldog replacing him for Bret Hart in their group. During the G1, Ringmasters started having issues which boiled up when Mr.Perfect eliminated Texas Tornado which led to their breakup as both men beat up each other and Bret joined in. At G1 Finals 1991, Tornado was scheduled to wrestle Bulldog for the IC title but Mr.Perfect took his spot and won it instead, Tornado would win the IC Championship from Perfect in an episode of RAW, all 4 Ringmasters had a fatal 4 way at Royal Rumble 1992 where Bret Hart won the title. Now, they wanna see who's the best Ringmaster outside of Bret as Tornado, Bulldog and Perfect face each other in a triple threat match

Jimmy Snuka began his farewell tour at Survivor Series 1991 defeating Shawn Michaels, this tour has been shit as he has only had 3 matches since this win: a loss against Jim Neidhart, a loss in a battle royal and a loss in the Royal Rumble match, his last match of his "farewell tour" and therefore his retirement match will take place tonight in an open challenge

The brand split was announced by Jim Duggan, from now on there will be 2 live shows with two exclusive rosters, Monday Night RAW and Friday Night Smackdown and they need to have General Managers of each show, Jim Duggan decided he wants to be GM of RAW but anyone could be GM of Smackdown as a 6 men battle royal was made between wrestlers who represented their managers for them to become GM of Smackdown, Greg Valentine is representing Jimmy Hart, Yokozuna is representing Mr.Fuji, Earthquake is representing Bobby Heenan, Papa Shango is representing himself, Big Boss Man is representing someone he was trying to arrest for trespassing but managed to put his name on the list of possible GM's and Randy Savage is representing Sensational Sherri

At Survivor Series 1990, there was a New Generation vs Old Generation Survivor Series Tag Match in which Undertaker was in the New Generation side while Jake Roberts was on the Old Generation, Undertaker ended up being eliminated last by Jake Roberts. At SNME December, he got his revenge as Roberts and Jimmy Snuka were having their tag title match against Demolition and Undertaker showed up and chokeslammed Roberts leading to his loss, at Wrestlemania 7 Undertaker defeated Jake Roberts and that seemed to be the end of this feud until Survivor Series 1991 where yet again both men were in different teams of a Survivor Series Tag Match but this time Taker eliminated Roberts, Roberts responded with a chairshot to the back backstage, they faced off at Royal Rumble 1992 where Undertaker got the win again but Roberts bowed down to Taker becoming his ally, Legion of Doom eliminated Undertaker in the rumble match and Taker wasn't happy with that as this new alliance began a feud with them

Lex Luger, who debuted at Royal Rumble 1992 and Tatanka, who debuted in May 1991 have been dominant since they started gaining a streak in house show and televised matches, Tatanka is at 99-0 while Lex Luger is at 31-0, Luger challenged him for a streak vs streak match tonight as one of the streaks had to end

Andre The Giant passed away in late march and Hulk Hogan announced a battle royal in his memorial would take place at Wrestlemania

## Results

Other participants: Bob Backlund, Beau Beverly, Blake Beverly, Demolition Crush, Demolition Smash, The Berzerker, Jerry Sags, Brian Knobbs, Butch, Luke, Dino Bravo, Jim Neidhart, Marty Jannetty, Max Moon, Mosh, Thrasher, The Mountie and Typhoon

## Details

* Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart shook hands after the match showing respect for each other
* During the tag team match, Jake Roberts turned on Undertaker doing the DDT to him but Undertaker immediatly got up doing a triple chokeslam, one hand for Jake Roberts and another for both of LOD(physics idk how this works.) to win the match
* Bobby Heenan is Smackdown's General Manager
* RAW GM Jim Duggan wants to shake hands with SD GM Bobby Heenan but Heenan just stares at him, brand wars have begun
* Ted Dibiase continued beating up Hulk Hogan in the turnbuckle even after the 5 count by the ref which ended this in a DQ
* Tatanka got to 100-0
* Lex Luger attacked Tatanka after the match turning heel
* WCW's Sid Vicious made his WWF debut answering Jimmy Snuka's open challenge, he was renamed Sycho Sid
* Koko B.Ware pinned Haku to become a 3 time WWF Champion
* After the main event, Haku got up and gave a nod of respect to Koko acknowledging him as better than Haku and therefore having to leave WWF
* Out of nowhere, Shawn Michaels SCM'd Haku who didn't even go down and then SCM's Koko, Haku tries to clothsline Shawn but Shawn ducks and Bret Hart piledrivers Haku, Lex Luger shows up as well and big boots Rick Martel out of the ring. All 3 men point to the stage as the theme hits "WOOOOOOO", WCW Heaviweight champion Ric Flair makes his WWF debut still holding the WCW Heaviweight Championship belt
* Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Lex Luger all throw the four sign in the ring, Four Horsemen of WWF have arrived

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