Who REALLY Carried WWE Every Year (1985-2026)
39. 1988 (Randy Savage)
...'Macho Man'.
Make no mistake about it, it was Randy Savage who carried the otherwise mundane WrestleMania IV card. He worked 4 bouts on the show as part of the tournament to crown a new WWF Champion. Performances against Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang and Ted DiBiase cemented Savage as a new kind of champion.
Hulk surely wouldn't have agreed to wrestle that many times in one evening, so Randy represented something different, and that captured the imaginations of fans. Post-title win, 'Macho' buddied up with Hogan as The Mega Powers. Their tag-team instantly became the most powerful duo in the promotion. Their mission? Get rid of The Mega Bucks (DiBiase and Andre The Giant).
That tag effort headlined the first SummerSlam show in August, then Randy teamed with Hulk and others again at Survivor Series. Things were coming to a head though - The Mega Powers were about to "explode" in time for 1989's WrestleMania V. Management had the ideal main event for V's return to Donald Trump territory in mind, and they weren't going to pull out now.
It's a huge compliment to Savage that he was booked as an equal then as a threat to Hulkamania. Not just anybody could've slid into that role. Indeed, someone else taking the title at 'Mania IV might've fallen flat and forced McMahon to script a hastier than anticipated belt switch back to Hogan.
That wasn't necessary, because the double act of Randy and Miss. Elizabeth grabbed WWF superstardom by the short and curlies in 1988.