One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY WWE WrestleMania

37. WrestleMania 5 | The Greatest Wrestling Story Of All-Time Almost Didn’t Happen

Since this is a long-form article covering 42 years of WrestleMania, and not 42 years of Starrcade, you can infer that the first Clash of the Champions was an aberration. The WWF rebounded from the short-lived disappointment that was WrestleMania 4 to set a PPV record in 1989 that would stand until 1998. All it took was the greatest story Vince McMahon ever told. He almost never wrote it. 

According to the May 30, 2011 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (a typically outstanding obituary covering the life and career of ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage), Dave Meltzer revealed that Ted DiBiase was in fact originally slated to win the WWF title in 1988. Vince only resorted to the greatest back-up plan ever devised when - and this is incredible to read in 2026, given their respective legacies - the Honky Tonk Man refused to do a job for Savage. This isn’t as inexplicable as its modern equivalent - Dominik Mysterio refusing to lose to CM Punk, perhaps - because the Honky Tonk Man was a real attraction. Still, Randy Savage was the bigger star - as he’d soon prove. 

Savage was meant to win the Intercontinental title and wrestle DiBiase on the summer house show loop. Hogan was scheduled to dethrone DiBiase at WrestleMania 5. Plans indeed changed, and the Mega Powers storyline was initiated at ‘Mania 4. While the storyline was brilliant, and the payoff a commercial smash, Savage actually bettered Hogan’s box office throughout the summer on a year-on-year basis. The WWF didn’t need to tell it.

In an additional trivia note, Demolition was not the only blatant Crockett Promotions ripoff; the ‘Mega Powers’ name was clearly indebted to the Superpowers tandem of Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff.