WrestleMania 4

WrestleMania IV was the fourth annual WrestleMania sports entertainment pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 27, 1988, at the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Date: 27 March 1988

Location: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

Venue: Boardwalk Hall

Promotion: WWE

Attendance: 19,199

Tagline(s)	"What the World is Watching"

10. "Trump Plaza" Was Actually Boardwalk Hall

You'll hear the name of the eventual forty-fifth President of the United States throughout WrestleManias IV and V, and "The Donald" popped up in the front row of both. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura made copious references to the events taking place at Trump Plaza, but that's a wee bit untrue.

Trump Plaza was the name of a hotel/casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk that opened in 1984, while the event itself took place at Boardwalk Hall, site of future episodes of Raw and SmackDown, as well as an annual house show these days, usually in the weeks before WrestleMania.

So why was the show billed as being from "Trump Plaza"? Because Vince McMahon's old friend Trump sponsored both 'Manias IV and V, getting the "naming rights" in trade.

9. The Tournament Once Had Very Different Brackets

On episodes of WWE television shortly after the tournament was announced, the company revealed the brackets for the 14-man showcase. Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were still given the dual-bye into the quarter final match with each other, and every other first round match was the same as it played out. Except the placements were different.

In the original version, the Jake Roberts/Rick Rude winner would've faced the Don Muraco/Dino Bravo winner. The winner of Ricky Steamboat/Greg Valentine got the winner of Randy Savage/Butch Reed (which was kept the same, actually). The victor of Bam Bam Bigelow/One Man Gang would battle the winner of Ted Dibiase/Jim Duggan.

So why the switcharounds? Because WWE had to craft a new ending to the tournament. For further explanation, just keep clicking through this list, and you'll understand.

8. The Omni In Atlanta Broadcast WrestleMania 4 On Closed Circuit

McMahon's steely-focused attempts to harm his most formidable opponent, Jim Crockett, Jr. and the NWA, had seen attempts at pay-per-view sabotage, such as WWE opposing Starrcade with the brand-new Survivor Series. Then he trumped Crockett's second pay-per-view, Bunkhouse Stampede, by opposing it with the infinitely-cooler Royal Rumble, on cable TV, no less.

Fighting fire with fire, Crockett debuted his Clash of the Champions specials on TBS by booking World Champion Ric Flair vs. the up-and-coming Sting, directly against WrestleMania 4 on March 27, 1988. Looking to further horn in on the Atlanta market he coveted for true national expansion, WWE booked a closed-circuit airing of WrestleMania 4 at Atlanta's Omni Coliseum, the NWA's home venue.

The equivalent would be if Crockett booked a closed-circuit showing of Starrcade at Madison Square Garden.

7. Greg Valentine Became The First Man To Compete For 3 Different Belts At WrestleMania

It's technically true. At WrestleMania 1, Valentine defended his Intercontinental gold in the undercard against The Junkyard Dog. A year later, he and Brutus Beefcake lost the Tag Team Championships in a classic to the British Bulldogs during the Chicago portion of the show.

As one of the tournament entrants in 1988, Valentine technically competed for the WWE World Championship, even if he didn't make it to the finals. The trifecta of competing for the World, Intercontinental, and Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania is a rare one, only duplicated by the likes of Bret Hart, Daniel Bryan, JBL, Chris Benoit, The Miz (counting pre-shows), and even Hulk Hogan, believe it or not. Valentine just happened to be the first to pull off the hat trick.

6. One Of Trump's Guests Was Used Against Him During His Campaign

A week before winning the election that made him President of the United States, Donald Trump endured another negative news story, this one involving his presence at WrestleMania 4.

A news report seemed to contradict a claim that Trump had made, saying he didn't know a reputed mob-linked gambler named Robert LiButti. This was disputed in November 2016 when news agencies ran video of WrestleMania 4, where Trump was seen in the front row next to LiButti, particularly during game show hostess Vanna White's entrance prior to the main event.

LiButti, who died in 2014, was banned from New Jersey state casinos in 1991 due to reported ties with mob boss John Gotti. LiButti's daughter Edith Creamer would go on to claim that she and her father were present that night as guests of Trump's.

5. Jake Roberts Frightened Trump's First Wife With Damian

At the time of the show, Donald Trump was still in his first marriage, to Czech model Ivana Zelníčková, who can be clearly seen in the front row next to her tycoon husband. According to Jake Roberts' account of the night, Ivana wasn't even paying attention to the ring, sitting turned away and sipping champagne. Roberts claimed to have been insulted by it.

After Roberts and Rick Rude battled to a draw, Roberts tried to accost Rude and Bobby Heenan with Damian. Off-camera, Roberts exited the ring with his python and ended up swiping Ivana across the upper body with his snake. The occurrence caused Ivana to apparently fall back in her chair.

Roberts emphasized that it wasn't intentional, but Heenan (in his book) hinted that it was otherwise. After noting that Donald found the whole incident amusing (Trump's second wife Marla Maples apparently told Roberts years later that he was her husband's favorite wrestler for it), Heenan claims that Ivana told her bodyguard, "You should have shot the f--king snake."

4. Sensational Sherri Was Peggy Sue

This one's a bit more well-known, but still a tad perplexing. To flesh out The Honky Tonk Man's gimmick of an Elvis wannabe even more, WWE costumed Sherri (the Women's Champion, mind you) as his girlfriend, Peggy Sue. Sherri dressed in a blonde wig and dark sunglasses that did a decent job of concealing her identity, to go along with a rockabilly skirt and throwback bobby socks. WrestleMania 4 was Sherri's most high-profile appearance with the gimmick, seconding Honky along with Jimmy Hart.

The Women's division of the time was so dead that playing Peggy Sue was virtually the best way to get Sherri on TV. Imagine if Charlotte wore a wig and sunglasses that hid who she was, and she managed someone like Kevin Owens under another name, when everyone knows who Charlotte is.

Oddly enough, Randy Savage did pull the Peggy Sue wig off of Sherri at events prior to WrestleMania, so it's not like it was a big mystery. Still, by WrestleMania, the announcers were pretending that Peggy Sue and Sherri were separate people, apparently.

3. Jim Korderas Was Legitimately Knocked Out During The IC Title Match

Longtime WWE official-turned-wrestling analyst Jim Korderas was the referee of record in Honky Tonk Man's Intercontinental title defense against Brutus Beefcake. In the finishing sequence, once Beefcake snared Honky with a sleeperhold, Korderas was supposed to be knocked out by Jimmy Hart, thus rendered unable to check the champion for a potential implied submission.

To achieve the referee bump, Jimmy Hart jumped to the apron and bonked Korderas with his megaphone. The then-26-year-old official took a forward flat bump, but ended up spiking his chin into the mat, knocking himself colder than ice. Korderas would claim that Hart took a bad rap for the spot, as others believed he'd injured Korderas with an unsafe shot. Korderas vehemently says that simply wasn't the case.

2. Demolition's Historic Tag Team Title Reign Began Here

Demolition found themselves relevant in WWE canon once more this past December, when The New Day rapidly approached Ax and Smash's long-standing record for longest Tag Team Championship reign in company history. That reign of more than 16 months began at WrestleMania 4, when the face-painted brutes defeated Rick Martel and Tito Santana just before the main event to capture the belts. They wouldn't drop the straps until July 1989.

And who was the team that would dethrone Demolition? That would be Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, who weren't even with WWE at the time of WrestleMania 4. In fact, Anderson and Blanchard were on NWA's Clash of the Champions the same night as WrestleMania 4, losing the NWA World Tag Team Championship to Lex Luger and Barry Windham. Circle of life, eh?

1. Ted Dibiase Was Originally Booked To Win The Tournament

Shock of shocks, Savage's big night originally was not to be. Stories have made the rounds that The Million Dollar Man was supposed to escape Atlantic City with the gold. Based on the original brackets, it makes a little more sense how it was to have played out.

The quarterfinals would have been (based on long-held beliefs, as well as speculation on my part) Hulk-Andre, possibly Rude-Muraco, Savage-Valentine, and Gang-Dibiase. Hulk would've barely survived Andre (taking a heavy toll on him), Rude beats Muraco, Savage topples Valentine, and Dibiase pays Gang to fake an injury and forfeit their match. In the semis, an exhausted Hogan outlasts Rude, and Dibiase uses chicanery to beat Savage. The final was likely to have been Dibiase beating Hogan by countout with Andre's help to win the belt, and then Hogan would've chased Dibiase for the gold throughout the summer.

So what happened? The Honky Tonk Man refused to drop the Intercontinental title to Savage in February, and WWE apparently didn't have the means to force him to do so. So they reconfigured the tournament brackets to have Savage beat Dibiase in the finals, to have at least one babyface champion. There was apparently heat for some time between Honky and Dibiase over this. The Million Dollar Belt was created as something of a consolation prize for Dibiase as a result.