This Man Was 'Mr. WrestleMania' Before Shawn Michaels
- Thomas Hall
- 11 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Like him or not, Shawn Michaels is known as Mr. WrestleMania. While he doesn’t actually have the greatest win/loss record at WrestleMania (6 wins and 11 losses), there was no one who was able to give a better performance when the lights were on the brightest. Michaels had one masterpiece after another at the show, including against Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Triple H/Chris Benoit, Razor Ramon, John Cena, Ric Flair, and of course The Undertaker in two of the most famous matches in history.
Shawn Michaels' WrestleMania Record
Shawn Michaels' WrestleMania Win/Loss Record | 6-11 |
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Shawn Michaels' WrestleMania Wins |
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Shawn Michaels' WrestleMania Losses |
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In short, there is pretty much no one close to Michaels’ abilities at WrestleMania, which has led him to being one of the most famous performers in the show’s history. However, there were some WrestleManias before Michaels became such a legend. That is what we are going to be looking at this week: the best candidate for being Mr. WrestleMania before Michaels took the spot.
Who Was 'Mr. WrestleMania' Before Shawn Michaels?
Now, in theory, the easiest pick in the world for this spot would be Hulk Hogan. He is pretty much the reason the show was invented, or at least able to be invented, in the first place and headlined most of the first decade’s worth of events. Hogan had some incredible success at the show, winning the WWF Title there a whopping three times in a five year span and having the whole “most famous wrestling match of all time” with Andre The Giant.
The thing is though... Hogan pretty much dominated everywhere. He had all kinds of success, but it wasn’t like this was unique to WrestleMania. Michaels was great everywhere, but he was at his greatest at the biggest show of the year. That is a hard spot to fill, and as luck would have it, there was one person who did just that for the first decade of WrestleMania, and he did it in a way that Michaels would follow later on. That person?
The Macho Man Randy Savage.
To say that Savage was a different kind of star for the WWF would be a massive understatement. He showed up in the company in the latter half of 1985 and took the company by storm. The villains of the day were often bigger, stronger monsters or brawlers like Roddy Piper. That was something that had been covered, which left the door open for someone else. As luck would have it, Savage shined in that spot.
The biggest problem for Savage was finding someone who could keep up with him. Eventually the task fell to Tito Santana, with Savage taking the Intercontinental Title from him in early 1986. That set the stage for Savage’s WrestleMania debut... and the less said about it the better.
Randy Savage's First WrestleMania Match Wasn't Good
Randy Savage Defended The WWF Intercontinental Championship Against George 'The Animal' Steele
Macho Man Cheated To Retain The Title
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 3.12
Savage defended the title against George The Animal Steele and, much like their other matches (and they had A TON), it was horrible. The most memorable moment of the match involves a bouquet of flowers. Thankfully that’s about it for the bad parts though, and it’s time to get on to the greatness.
The only good thing to come out of the feud with Steele was the return of Steele’s friend, Ricky Steamboat. While Savage had previously had trouble finding an opponent who could keep up with his speed and athleticism, Steamboat was more than capable of doing just that, which is exactly what happened at WrestleMania III.
Randy Savage Vs. Ricky Steamboat From WrestleMania 3 Is An All-Time Classic
Savage Lost The Intercontinental Title To 'The Dragon' At WrestleMania III
This Legendary Match Is Still Considered One Of The Best Matches In WrestleMania History
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 8.98
If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume that you’ve seen Savage vs. Steamboat a minimum of 37 times so I’ll spare you a big recap. It’s an all time classic and still one of the most memorable matches WrestleMania has ever seen.
MORE FROM THOMAS HALL: What Makes Bret Hart Vs. Stone Cold A True WrestleMania Masterpiece
Savage lost the Intercontinental Title, which meant that it was time (well after a few months and a huge face turn) to move up to the next level, which is where WrestleMania comes back into play.
Macho Man Randy Savage Finally Became World Champion At WrestleMania IV
Randy Savage Won A Tournament For The Vacant WWF Championship At WrestleMania IV
Macho Man Defeated Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang & Ted DiBiase To Become The New Champion
Hulk Hogan Came Out To Assist Randy Savage In The Final Against Ted DiBiase
The following year at WrestleMania IV, Savage won a pretty ridiculous four matches in one night (Hogan didn’t even win one), eventually capping off the night by becoming the new WWF Champion in the finals. The thing to remember is that Savage won the title during Hulkamania. He was the first new (good guy) WWF Champion in over four years and he did it with Hogan right there. That’s how you make someone into a superstar, with Savage going on to hold the title for the next year.
Randy Savage Lost The WWF Title To Hulk Hogan At WrestleMania V As The Mega Powers Exploded
Savage & Hogan Formed The 'Mega Powers' Tag Team For Nearly A Year
They Split In February 1989 Before Finally Clashing In The Main Event Of WrestleMania V
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 7.24
All good things must come to an end though, as Hogan beat Savage to win the title at WrestleMania V. As usual though, it was still one of the best matches of the show and Savage became the first non-Hogan name to headline two WrestleManias in a row.
The Macho King (& His Queen) Lost A Mixed Tag Team Match At WrestleMania VI
Sensational Sherri Became 'The Macho King' Randy Savage's New Valet In The Summer Of 1989
This Was The First (And Only) Time Dusty Rhodes Competed At WrestleMania
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 3.60
The loss to Hogan sent Savage down the ladder a bit, which was pretty clear at WrestleMania VI as Savage teamed with Queen Sherri against Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire. No, the match wasn’t great and yes it was overshadowed by the main event of Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior, but it very well may have been the most memorable other match of the night. Not bad for a comedy match.
Randy Savage & The Ultimate Warrior Stole The Show With Their Retirement Match At WrestleMania VII
Savage Didn't Wrestle Full-Time For The Rest Of 1991 After Losing This "Retirement Match"
Miss Elizabeth & Randy Savage Reunited In One Of The Greatest WrestleMania Moments Ever
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 8.42
Now, with that out of the way, we have an instance of Savage doing what Michaels would later make famous: stealing the show. While the main event of WrestleMania VII was Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter, the most memorable (and best) match of the show saw Savage vs. Warrior in a career ending match (right). Savage gave it everything he had but came up short, despite hitting an incredible five straight flying elbows. Warrior finally put Savage down and ended his career... but things weren’t over yet.
Following the match, Sherri turned on Savage in a move so heinous that even BOBBY HEENAN thought it was too far. As the beating went on, Miss Elizabeth jumped the barricade for the save and reunited with Savage in one of the happiest endings you will ever see in wrestling. It was the kind of long term storytelling that you do not see in wrestling very often and my goodness it holds up so well, as Savage was actually a changed man for the first time in years. The match was outstanding, but the reunion was even better.
Randy Savage Won His Second WWF Championship At WrestleMania VIII Against Ric Flair
Randy Savage Returned To The Ring In Late 1991 For A Heated Feud With Jake 'The Snake' Roberts
He Followed That Up With Another Personal Feud, This Time Against Then-WWF Champion Ric Flair
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 8.58
Moving on to WrestleMania VIII and hey look: Savage has one of the best matches of the night (possibly best, at worst second only to Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper) and picks up his second WWF Title. As usual, Hogan gets the big spot in the main event, even though Savage won the title and got the big pyro celebration after the match. In other words, it was the norm for Savage, especially at WrestleMania.
That was Savage’s last great WrestleMania moment, as he would spend WrestleMania IX on commentary.
But then, he had one more feud to settle...
Macho Man Randy Savage Won His Final WrestleMania Match Against Crush At WrestleMania X
Randy Savage Wasn't Wrestling Full-Time Anymore In His Final Years With The WWF
His Feud With Crush Began All The Way Back In The Summer Of 1993
Cagematch Rating As Of This Writing: 4.31
That feud was against Crush at WrestleMania X (ironically where Michaels initially broke out with his WrestleMania classic) in a weird kind of Last Man Standing/Texas Deathmatch kind of thing. It didn’t exactly work, but Savage wound up winning in his WrestleMania sendoff.
Macho Man Randy Savage's WrestleMania Record
Randy Savage's WrestleMania Win/Loss Record | 7-4 |
Randy Savage's WrestleMania Wins |
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Randy Savage's WrestleMania Losses |
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Grudge matches, the Intercontinental Title, an all-time masterpiece, back to back main events and a pair of WWF Titles. Savage had an all time career in the span of nine WrestleManias and a decent win/loss record (7-4, far better than Michaels) with some of the most memorable matches you would find anywhere. He absolutely stole the show from Hogan at WrestleManias VII and VIII and had was presented as the second biggest star in the company for quite a long time.
Now, I’m not about to suggest that Savage was bigger than Hogan in the first decade of WrestleMania (no one was). Michaels was hardly the top star in the company for most of his time at WrestleMania. Instead, Savage was someone you could absolutely count on to have one of, if not the best/most memorable match of the night on the biggest show of the year. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise as Savage is still one of the most talented wrestlers of all time, but he was able to showcase that as well as anyone else in the early days of WrestleMania.