WrestleMania V (1989 TV Special) User Reviews

Will Be Much Better If You Enjoy Tag Team Action

[zkonedog · 6/10 · 6 March 2017]

After the explosion of an event that was Wrestlemania IV, this fifth installment would have been hard-pressed to live up to expectations. It doesn't, of course, but still manages to turn in a decent showing.

Some of the highlights of Wrestlemania V include:

-A great tag match featuring Demolition vs. The Warlords (what a power display!) -The Hart Foundation finally getting a big "babyface" response instead of being "heels". -Jake "The Snake Roberts" pulling out Damien on Andre The Giant (I've never seen the big guy move so fast). -Seeing Bobby "The Brain" Heenan getting bounced around the ring a little bit (!). -The debut of Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, as well as the Ultimate Warrior finally becoming a huge force in the industry.

Of course, the Hulk Hogan vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage main event is the most entertaining match of the night. Savage was always such a great wrestling personality and showman that his big build-up matches always seem to really "pop".

Overall, though, Wrestlemania V to me was just a little bland coming off the big tournament a year before. 3.5 stars would be my exact rating. Some matches really entertained me, while others were snoozers. If you really enjoy tag-team action then you'll probably think more highly of it than me, as for some reason the WWF at this time had a huge "tag" push going on in the industry.

Great build up?

[paudieconnolly · 6/10 · 17 October 2020]

This one 👀 looked better on the page than it was to watch. All the names are there and looks like some great matches including ultimate warrior v Ravishing Rick Rude for the intercontinental title & macho Randy Savage v Hulk Hogan a year in the making since Macho captured the world 🌎 title at wrestlemania 4 The mega powers forming and the fall out everything in place for a big show . The event started slow from the first match and never really seemed to find the pace you would expect from a wrestlemania.

Great on paper

[wwfhistoryguy · 8/10 · 2 April 2004]

*SPOILERS*

Looking at this card, it appears to be great. But all the matches were just a little on the unspectacular side.

Most WrestleManias were filled with mismatches, but not this one. All of the competitors were well-matched, making for unpredictable outcomes. This also made for some upsets, like Rick Rude beating the Ultimate Warrior, and the Bushwhackers stampeding over the Rougeaus. The talented tag team, fresh out of a feud with the Hart Foundation, really did the job to Luke and Butch.

Speaking of the Harts, it's hard to believe there were so many years between their title reigns. They destroyed Honky Tonk Man and Valentine, in the best match of the night. Pretty much all the tag team matches were better than the one-on-one encounters. The Rockers were totally overpowered, but they really gave Bossman and Akeem a run for their money. This was the first in a long string of high-profile losses for Marty and Shawn, who are now inexplicably remembered as one of the most successful tag teams ever. The Strike Force-Brain Busters match could have been a Match of the Year candidate, if not for Martel leaving so quickly.

And let's not forget the last tag team match in a pay-per-view we saw the Powers of Pain in. Do you realize they only won one of their feuds (against the Rockers, of course)?

The biggest mismatch was Jake vs. Andre, but it was done well. And it sparked what could have been a great feud between Jake and Ted DiBiase, if not for the neck injury.

While it was obvious Hogan would beat Savage, Savage was really impressive and dominant, especially considering the fact that he was under a lot of pressure, including dangerous surgery and steroid allegations.

Worth a look, but not one of the great WrestleManias. Those were still years away.

Great!

[RepoManRules · 24 May 2003]

An excellent show! I personally loved it! The Savage/Hogan match was fantastic earning ****. The opener was hot too, So was Rockers/Towers. Bobby Heenan wrestling was not a pretty site. Duggan with snot coming out of his nose was real bad.

Otherwise, recommended.

Run of the mill...

[markovd111 · 6/10 · 25 February 2022]

If you were expecting a legendary experience like "WrestleMania III" or "WrestleMania IV", you won't find it here. There are some decent matches and the main event is cool, but there are also some boring and unnecessary stuff like rap performance in the ring, drawn out and stupid Brother Love and Piper sequence and some slow or gimmick matches. All in all, "WrestleMania V" delivers on the fun, but it's held from greatness by the broadness of it's unevenly fun content. 6.5/10!

Very Flamboyant

[scart940 · 9/10 · 7 May 2001]

This was an awesome wrestlemania. I loved how they had it once again at Trump Plaza, and how they had the steps coming down to ringside. This wrestlemania had so much hype, and I think it lived up to it. A lot happened at this event: Hogan won the title back, The Ultimate Warrior lost his title to Rick Rude, Strike Force split up, Demolition beat their former manager, and The Hart Foundation gave the Honky Tonk Man and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine a beat down. It was great, it really set the stage for Summerslam that followed a couple months after it.

The Mega Powers EXPLODE! WRESTLEMANIA V!

[JWLJN · 10/10 · 22 March 2000]

Not the best WrestleMania, but the card did have its high points. Doesn't seem to outshine I, III, or IV, but probably II. Shawn Michaels makes his WrestleMania debut here, and it's hard to believe he'd be in the main event 6 years later, but then again, everyone starts somewhere. Worth the view.

The Mega Powers collide at the biggest and best mania ever!

[bh_tafe3 · 10/10 · 14 February 2009]

Something unthinkable happened in the lead up to this show: The Mega Powes, Hulk Hogan and WWE Champion Randy Savage, imploded. Savage's ego, believing that people were cheering for Hogan and not him, and jealousy over the amount of time Hogan was spending with their manager Miss Elizabeth finally got the best of him and he turned on Hogan. And at this event the former friends would collide in the ultimate Wrestlemania Main Event.

But before we get there, there is an undercard, and despite the large number of matches, this one delivered some cool stuff.

The night started off with Hercules pulling out a victory over Haku, despite the presence of his former manager Bobby Heenan at ring side. Good fun, with Heenan interfering. "The Brain" was one of the finest wrestling personality of the late eighties and could sell any match. He was fun whether he won and bragged obnoxiously about it, or lost and whined like a baby.

Our next match was again a lot of fun as the Twin Towers Akeem and the Big Bossman, who had been such a formidable rival for the Mega Powers in late 1988, defeated The Rockers Shawn Micheals and Marty Janetty, making their first Wrestlemania appearance.

Ted Dibiase and Brutus Beefcake fought to a double count out in their match despite the interference of DiBiase's bodyguard Virgil. The Bushwackers, making their first Wrestlemania appearance then defeated the Fabulous Rougeaus Jacques and Raymond after they wasted valuable time celebrating a nice move. And next up Mr Perfect Curt Hennig defeated the Blue Blazer Owen Hart in a short match which was also an absolute scorcher. Perfect remained undefeated as a result of the win.

Next match was a big man handicap tag match between Demolition Ax and Smash and The Powers of Pain and Mr Fuji. Managers are always fun in handicap matches and Fuji cost his boys the tag team championship here, getting destroyed by Smash and then pinned by Ax to win the match for Demolition. Demolition are considered by many to be a rip off of popular NWA Tag Team the Road Warriors. If that's the case they were one of the finest rip offs in wrestling history. Fun match.

Next up we had a match borne out of the Royal Rumble two months before as Jake Roberts took on Andre the Giant with Big John Studd, who'd won the Rumble match, as the guest referee. Andre had eliminated himself from that match after Roberts had bought his pet snake Damien to the ring. But Andre had it covered this time, enlisting the help of Ted DiBiase and Virgil to grab the snake. Chaos ensues and Andre head butts our guest ref Studd. Can't do that son. Roberts by DQ.

The Hart Foundation Bret hart and Jim Neidhart defeated Rhythm and Blues Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine, Bret Hart using R&B manager Jimmy Hart's megaphone to knock out Tonky and get the win. A sweet moment for the Harts as Jimmy Hart had been their manager a year earlier.

Next up comes a major upset as Rick Rude ends the undefeated streak of the Ultimate Warrior, winning the Intercontinental Championship with the help of his manager Bobby Heenan who held Warrior's feet down so he couldn't kick out of the pin attempt.

Incredibly we have two more matches before the main event. Bad News Brown and Hacksaw Jim Duggan fight to a double DQ and in one of the few wrestling matches I've ever given five and a half stars, Red Rooster defeated Bobby Heenan in about half a minute.

This, at long last, following a dozen matches, brings us to the main event with the Mega Powers colliding. Savage looked like he had the match as he hit the flying elbow, but, inspired by the power of Hulkamania, Hogan hulks up, hits the leg drop and gets the win and the WWE Championship. That'll teach ya Randy Savage! Despite having far too many matches, this was a ridiculously entertaining show. The Ultimate Warrior had his winning streak ended, Heenan got his comeuppance. Hulkamania returned with a Vegeance, Owen Hart made his Wrestlemania debut and had a screamer. A great night, never to be forgotten, and just about the gold standard in how to build a PPV. Few have ever been done better.

Wrestlemania V was missing something.

[atomicjeff-41850 · 3/10 · 21 September 2023]

This next installment of the wrestlemania series I thought was entertaining, but just lacked the momentum like the previous ones. This main event seemed like something we would see on a Saturday Night Main Event. The storyline was very predictable as well as its outcome. Hogan came back after filming and since the WWF saw a drop in ticket sales at their house shows with Savage as champion they needed Hogan as champion again. As talented as Randy Savage was and how great he was on the mic, he just could not generate the excitement the bigger than life Hulk Hogan was able to do, thus Savage went back to being a heel instead of a baby face fan favorite. The whole event did not have any really outstanding moments and seemed to be poorly scripted. The lack of any celebrity presence also spoke to the equality of this event. Seemed they were trying to keep costs down and produced this on a shoe string budget. Then again Wrestlemania 7 holds the distinct honor of being one of the worse Wrestlemanias ever, so V was still better than that one. In summation Wrestlemania V was average getting 3 out 10 stars from most wrestling reviewers. "BBb.

10

[mattyhavok · 10/10 · 28 December 2019]

You could ignore all the other matches and this show would still he a 10. The Mega Powers colliding was the greatest story ever told. Down to the most minor detail. Everything done was done for a reason. Absolute genius booking by Mcmahon & Patterson. And hats off to Hogan, Savage, and Miss Elizabeth for pulling it off.

Really Terrible Wrestlemania

[amanwhorocks · 4/10 · 12 June 2013]

1. King Haku Vs. Hercules - Great, Haku eats lost. 6/10

2. The Twin Towers Vs. The Rockers - Blah, these two cetaceans, (that can't bend themselves) won. Terrible. Poor Michaels. 5/10 only for Rockers.

3. Ted Dibiase Vs.Brutus Beefcake - Another idiot, Beefcake, God, this man sucks :-( I appreciate he hasn't got one of his gay-outfits, but his gloves for cleaning toilet. Double DQ. 4/10

4. The Rougeau Brothers Vs. 2 Mentally Ill Individuals - Bushcrackers wins and i Must give my one of my lowest ratings 2/10

5. Mr. Perfect Vs. The Blue Blazer- Finally, somebody who does worth for. 7.5/10

6. World Tag TItles Match: Champs The Demolition Vs. The "we aren't Road Warriors adaptation" Powers of Pain 5/10

7. Ronnie Garvin Vs. Dino Bravo 5.5/10

8. Strike Force Vs. THe Brainbusters 6/10 Piper's Sketch -5/10

9. André The Giant Vs. Jake Snake Roberts. Poor Jakie. Andre is maybe legend, but he's also really bad wrestler...This match sucks and Jake isn't Guilty. 3/10

10. Bobby Heenan Vs. The Rooster? - WTF? This show aspirates on worst WWF show I've ever seen. Less than one minute match 3/10

11. Greg Valentine/Honky Tonk Man Vs. The Hart Foundation 6/10

12. IC Title match: Rick Rude Vs. Champ The Ultimate (idiot) Warrior Sorry to Beefcake :D , this is really bad. Lol, Rude won. Good things so. 3.5/10

13. Bad News Browwn Vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan - Now this is sick, DUggan, another annoying stiff. This is really bad event. WWF had abnormal bunch of clowns in 1989. And DQ in addition. 3/10

14. World Heavyweight Title match: Champ Randy Savage Vs. Hulk Hogan - Classic from these two, but that doesn't mean much... 4/10

Like I said before: This is really bad event. WWF had abnormal bunch of clowns in 1989.

Show honestly saved by the main event.

[morantjavonte · 5/10 · 10 May 2020]

The Mega Powers Explode!!! Did they in a main event that was looked forward to by many? I think so. WrestleMania 5 takes place in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the second straight year making this the only time period in WWE history where WrestleMania was held back to back in the same location in the same arena. In spite this, the show had little less than it's procedure with attendance of 18,946. Not a major fall back honestly. What this event is most memorable for was the feud between arguably the biggest Babyface in Professional Wrestling history (Hulk Hogan) and the late-great Randy Savage who even at this time was as big of a draw as Hulk Hogan. In fact Savage despite running as a heel at this time was said to still be the biggest draw in merchandise and attendence for the show. Other notable things about this WrestleMania was the Intercontinental Championship match, WrestleMania debuts of Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, and Owen Hart (who was under the gimmick of Blue Blazer). Now to simple thoughts of the show

The Good - Well as expected, the Main Event between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage was great match. It wasn't a spectacular but it did deliver. Savage is one of my favorite legends that I love to look at in rewinds as I wasn't born during his prime. I honestly think he surpasses Hulk Hogan in numerous comparisons but Hulk is great too. The match told a story and it was a great ending to a chapter. Another thing this WM did better than previous was a better mid card. More matches actually were better booked and fun to watch than the previous. The first 3 matches too were good starts to the show and a few stars who were new to the company at the time looked like future bright stars with opportunities and boy did they become future stars. Also Hulk Hogan cut an amazing promo in the middle of the show that really got a lot of energy to prepare a dead crowd to rise when he and Savage are entering the ring. Final thing is props to Tito Santana who carried away his Tag Team match after the heel turn from Rick Martel basically made it into a handicap match.

The Meh - The commentary was just complicated. Jesse Ventura is the greatest Color Commentator in Wrestling history but him and Gorilla Moonsoon constant bickering over their favorites was kinda ruining the matches especially the main event. I understand a heel announcer but at times I think heels for announcing even need to toned down for the moments that are ment to be memorable or special.

The Bad - Crowd was bad for majority of the show and even the loudest pops were barely good. Hulk Hogan's entrance was probably the weakest pop he's ever gotten in WrestleMania history. Once again a freaking long show as I couldn't watch all in one evening as it was bed time. Some matches on the card weren't even needed and they were dreadful. Aside from Hogan vs. Savage no match on here honestly isn't Memorable if I were to think of every wrestling match in history. Andre the Giant definitely reached his point of his career after his performance here. It's honestly bad for them to book him 10 minutes with Jake Roberts but the Snake scare was funny. Rowdy Piper's Pit Segment too was such a waste of time and I honestly would skip over it next time this show is watched. It honestly wasn't that funny and the crowd couldn't even get a big laugh.

Overall - Mediocre show. Without Hogan and Savage, this show would have been worse but that great main event was the saving grace. I think I'd choose this over rewatching 3/4 of the previous WrestleManias though.

0 = Terrible 1 = Bad 2 = Decent 3 = Good 4 = Awesome 5 = One of the best of all time

1. King Haku vs Hercules - 3/5

2. Twin Towers vs. Rockers - 3/5

3. Brutus Breefcake vs. Ted Dibiase - 3/5

4. Rougeau Brothers vs. Bushwhackers - 1/5

5. Blue Blazer vs. Mr. Perfect - 3.5/5

6. Demolition vs. Powers of Pain: World Tag Team Championship - 2/5

7. Dino Bravo vs Ronnie Garvin - 1/5

8. Strike Force vs. Brain Busters - 3/5

9. Andre the Giant vs. Jake Roberts - 0/5

10. Greg Valentine & Honky Tonk Man vs. Hart Foundation - 3/5

11. Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior: Intercontinental Championship - 3/5

12. Bad News Brown vs. Jim Duggan - 0/5

13. Red Rooster vs. Bobby Heenan - not even worth it

14. Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage: WWE Championship - 3.5/5

Best Match - Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Worst Match - Andre the Giant vs. Jake Roberts

Most Memorable Moment - Ultimate Warrior's raged after getting screwed

5 Best Performers 1. Randy Savage: 2. Hulk Hogan: 3. Tito Santana: 4. Rick Rude: 5. Bret Hart:

Rating 5 out of 10: Mediocre

Macho Man tries to squash Hulkamania for good.

[Captain_Couth · 4 June 2004]

Wrestlemania V (1989) was the biggest P.P.V. the W.W.F. had. Many wanted to see Hulk Hogan and another one of his former friend's fight for the undisputed W.W.F. World heavyweight title. This time Hogan's ego and the Macho Man's jealousy and paranoia over his valet/manager Miss Elizabeth caused the greatest face tag team to explode. Hogan looked naked without the gold and wanted it badly and Macho Man was none to pleased with the way Hogan and Miss Elizabeth were becoming too chummy with each other.

This one took place in the same building as the bloated and boring Wrestlemania IV. Trump smelled money and made a small fortune off of this one. The Macho Man carried Hogan through a watchable match. But one of the best things about this event was the Piper's Pit with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Brother Love and Morton Downey Jr. Classic stuff and I highly recommend the main event match (that's how you end a feud) and the Piper's Pit segment.

B+

THE MEGA POWERS DID INDEED EXPLODE!

[Big Movie Fan · 26 April 2002]

This was an entertaining WrestleMania. Not in the same league as earlier events but entertaining all the same.

For starters, Roddy Piper returned to the WWF in 1989 at this event and he was as charismatic as ever. He was the best speaker in the WWF ever and was rivaled only by Hulk Hogan in my opinion.

The matches were good too. The Ultimate Warrior and the late Rick Rude put on an entertaining match for the Intercontinental Title. The late Blue Blazer faced Mr. Perfect in a gem of a match. Demolition battled The Powers of Pain in a brutal match. There were many great matches here especially Hulk Hogan VS Macho Man Randy Savage. Hogan and Savage had chemistry together. They first fought around 1986 and their last major feud took place in WCW in the late 90's. These guys could always put on a good match wherever and whenever they wrestled. And they did that at WrestleMania V.