30 Week Journey: Wrestlemania IV (1988)

From Bigger, Badder, and Bette – to just plain Longer.

The Lapsed Fan wrestling podcast continues its 30-week, 30-Wrestlemania journey this week with a deep dive into Wrestlemania IV, night of the inaugural WWF championship tournament culminating in the breakthrough of Macho Man Randy Savage as a touchstone name in the WWF annals.

Hosts Jack Encarnacao and JP Sarro hunker down and cover it all as the WWF rolled the dice in conjunction with Donald Trump in Atlantic City, including:

- Robin Leach’s wonderfully overwrought tournament proclamation, in its entirety
- More DQ finishes than there should ever be at a Mania
- Brutus scalps tickets, not his opponent; also, rhymes “Done” with “Champion”
- Dibiase bumps like he’s in it to win it, which he at one point was scheduled to
- The WM debut of Demolition, and why their beat down of Strike Force was just what the bored Atlantic City crowd needed
- Steamboat’s inauspicious WWF farewell, complete with Gorilla Monsoon reading his newborn son’s mind
- The Hulk Hogan promo that literally includes the line, “Thank God Donald Trump’s a Hulkamaniac.”
- What it’s like when Hogan does his posing routine but didn’t win his match

This plus a series of great audio contributions, including reflections on WM4 and the war with Jim Crockett Promotions and the first Clash of the Champions with grappling guru Dave Meltzer.

It may be your Lapsed chance. Get on board with the historic 30-week Wrestlemania journey with Wrestlemania IV!