10 Vintage WrestleMania Matches That Ended In Disqualification
Even icons such as Hulk Hogan, Triple H, Roddy Piper, and Mr. Perfect have to follow the rules.
When the average fan sits down to watch a match, one hyped up with a heated feud, a disqualification outcome is far from their desired conclusion.
Disqualifications can work well to extend feuds, keep championships on a wrestler, and create fanfare for a future title defence. This tactic is most effective when used by heels. A staple of the archetypal heel champion is to force a disqualification during defences, losing the match but retaining their championship on a technicality. It’s a dirty move, which plays on fan frustration.
Most will agree DQ finishes are best confined to weekly programming and B-show PPVs, in the run-up to ‘The Show of Shows’ not at it. However, some old-school ‘Mania matches have also ended in a DQ.
During WrestleMania’s early days, disqualifications were more common. The limited number of pay-per-views allowed for extended feuds and disqualification played its part in this.
Modern 'Manias are more likely to have stipulations preventing championships from being retained by disqualification. World Championship matches at WrestleMania XIX, XXV, XXVIII, and XXIX featured the stipulation that the defending champion (Kurt Angle, Triple H, CM Punk, and The Rock) could lose their title by disqualification, protecting the outcome somewhat.
These, however, did not...
10. Brutus Beefcake (with Johnny Valiant) Vs. David Sammartino (with Bruno Sammartino)
WrestleMania I
31 March 1985
Madison Square Garden, New York
In 1985 Brutus Beefcake, a Floridian, was billed as hailing from “Parts Unknown”. This assured fans that The Berserker, Giant Gonzalez, and Doink the Clown had a hometown hair salon. At least Beefcake wasn’t a representative of ‘the fifth dimension’, or All Elite Wrestling as it is now known.
Bruno Sammartino accompanied his Rhyno-bodied son David to the ring. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura concluded that both father and son had the same legs, noses, and hairstyles. Thankfully to avoid confusion the older Sammartino wore a sweater befitting of a sitcom dad.
Beefcake played the cowardly heel well, fleeing from the younger Sammartino, until he could draw him into some mat wrestling. The action was slower and methodical with bursts of Catch wrestling for punctuation. The latter section turned into a pure brawl with both men getting in some pretty stiff strikes.
The DQ:
After Johnny Valiant delivered a bodyslam to David onto the concrete. The four men brawled their way into the ring. Father and son beat down and chased off the "old enough to be father and son" duo. The match was ruled to be a double disqualification.