WWF WrestleMania VIII: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best

Umar Usman
Jun 17, 2022
4 min read

After a great Royal Rumble PPV, expectations were quite high from WrestleMania VIII. The build-up was also good and there were some interesting matches on the card. The show was in fact good, but there were bad matches too. So let’s jump into the event and rank the matches, starting with the worst.

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Sycho Sid

The main event of a show is supposed to be one of the best parts of the show, Right? Well… Hulk Hogan and Sycho Sid didn’t think so, as they proceeded to have the worst match of the night. It was an awful match, the crowd was somehow into it throughout but it was a very bad contest between the two big men and the worst WrestleMania main event of all time in my opinion. The ending was also very bad with Papa Shango missing his cue. The Ultimate Warrior returned but it was not enough to save this. Horrible way to end the biggest show of the year. (DUD)

8. Money Inc. vs. The Natural Disasters (WWF Tag Team Championships)

I feel so bad for IRS and Ted Dibiase that they had to be a part of this match. I really liked the tag team Money Inc., but unfortunately they didn’t have good tag teams to work with. Coming back to this tag match, it was very slow and painful to watch. The ending of the match was also a very lame count-out finish. It just never clicked. (DUD)

7. Owen Hart vs. Skinner

This was too short to be anything. It lasted for a little over a minute, and Owen Hart won the match. The squash didn’t really help Owen though as he was back to being a tag team wrestler following the event. All I can say is this match existed. (N/R – no rating)

6. Big Boss Man, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan vs. The Nasty Boys, Repo Man and The Mountie

The annual “Everyone gets a payday match”. It’s quite obvious this match was put together just to get a bunch of wrestlers on the card. After the 6 minutes and 31 seconds, the babyface team won the match. Whatever… (1/2*)

5. The Undertaker vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts

This sounds like an absolute dream match, but this was early 90s Undertaker. If you have seen Undertaker’s early work in WWF, you know how his matches were. This was a slow contest with not much good in-ring action. It was also Jake Roberts’ last night in the company, and thus he put over The Undertaker. This wasn’t about the in-ring action, but more about the result, and Undertaker winning was a great “passing of the torch” moment. (*)

4. Tatanka vs. Rick Martel

This served as a cooldown match, after the WWF title bout between Randy Savage and Ric Flair, which we will talk about later. The two wrestlers got less than 5 minutes, but the two did a pretty decent job. It was a watchable contest, and you won’t really be bored watching this. Tatanka obviously won the match and gained more momentum in his WWF run. (*1/2)

3. “El Matador” Tito Santana vs. Shawn Michaels

This was the opening match of the show, and also the first singles match of Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania. Shawn had started his singles career only recently and thus, he wasn’t at his best yet. It was a pretty decent bout though, with some solid action. Obviously, the two wrestlers could have had a better match if they were both at their peak, but it wasn’t the case here. The finish was quite strange and they couldn’t really pull it off well, but Shawn winning was a good result. (**1/2)

2. Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart (WWF Intercontinental Championship)

My only complaint with this match is that it wasn’t very long. Bret Hart and Roddy Piper were cousins, and both were babyfaces at the time which made for an interesting encounter. This match could have gone for hours and I wouldn’t have complained. It was a fantastic contest with such good storytelling and drama. We also saw blood during the match, even though blood wasn’t allowed in WWF then. The finish was the famous Bret Hart pinfall off the turnbuckle. This was easily the best match of Roddy Piper’s entire career, and one of the best Intercontinental title matches ever. (****1/4)

1. Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (WWF Championship)

Onto the best match of the card, and what I personally believe should have been the main event. The feud between the two was very personal, as Ric Flair had constantly talked trash about Randy Savage’s wife, Miss Elizabeth during the build-up. Savage wasted no time during the match and went right after Flair. The crowd was hot and the in-ring work was spectacular. Savage’s selling during the match was amazing. Like the IC title match, blood was involved in this match too. The finish wasn’t exactly great, but it doesn’t matter as Savage won the title. After so much of trash-talk, it was great to see Savage hold the belt. (****1/2)

And that’s all for today’s post, thank you all for reading. Stay tuned for the next part of this series where we will take a look at SummerSlam 1992. Have a nice day!