WrestleMania VIII: 1992 жылғы кәсіби күрес шоуы

1992 World Wrestling Federation pay per view event

WrestleMania VIII was the eighth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay per view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana in the United States. Nine matches were shown during the live broadcast, with one dark match occurring before the event. Matches held at WrestleMania VIII included WWF Intercontinental Champion Roddy Piper defending his title against former champion Bret Hart, WWF Champion Ric Flair defending his title against Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan facing his rival Sid Justice.

WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship pay per view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It is held annually between mid March to mid April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay per views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were eventually dubbed the "Big Four". WrestleMania VIII was scheduled to be held on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The original plan for the main event was the long awaited bout between Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, the meeting between the two legends was even promoted on television in a mock press conference where WWF President Jack Tunney had announced Hogan as the number one contender to Flair's WWF Championship. Both Flair and Hogan had wrestled against each other in several house show matches and a televised tag match, but not in a televised main event singles match. WrestleMania VIII was changed to a double main event with Hogan wrestling Sid Justice, while Flair wrestled Randy Savage. For storyline purposes, Sid Justice lobbied to wrestle Hulk Hogan due to tensions starting between the two at that year's Royal Rumble, where Hogan was eliminated by Sid Justice. This maneuver on Sid's part led Hogan to helping rival Ric Flair eliminate Justice and then win not only the Royal Rumble but the WWF Championship in the process. This would make Ric Flair only the second man to win both the WWF and NWA World Heavyweight Titles, the first being the original "Nature Boy", Buddy Rogers. Golianopoulos also ranked the Flair vs. Savage match at number 19 on the same list, praising the in ring psychology despite an abrupt finish. On the other hand, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave the Hogan/Justice main event negative two stars, citing their lackluster performance and the late entry of Papa Shango, which necessitated a hastily rewritten ending. The main event was also ranked by Youtube wrestling channel Cultaholic as the worst WrestleMania main event of all time in their 2019 ranking of every WrestleMania Main Event, while saying that the WWF Championship Match between Flair and Savage should've been the main event in their 2020 list of 10 WrestleMania Matches That Closed The Show.

Savage's primary opponent during the spring and summer of 1992 was Ric Flair, with the storyline over Flair's alleged past relationship with Elizabeth continuing to play a major factor. It was revealed later in WWF Magazine that the photos that Flair had shown of himself with Elizabeth were fakes, and that they were actually of Savage and Elizabeth. In real life, Savage and Elizabeth were about to separate, and did, with Elizabeth making her final WWF appearance on April 19, 1992 at the UK Rampage pay per view. WrestleMania VIII marked Elizabeth's last major pay per view appearance in the United States for the WWF. Although Savage and Flair continued feuding, the Elizabeth aspect was dropped from the storyline, and the former couple's divorce was finalized in September 1992. Savage briefly addressed the divorce in an issue of WWF Magazine, but it was otherwise not mentioned in kayfabe. Shawn Michaels began receiving his first major push as a main event singles competitor, as he would challenge Randy Savage for the WWF Championship in Europe, while challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship in the United States, while occasionally teaming with Ric Flair in tag team matches against Hart and Savage. Michaels eventually won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The British Bulldog (who had won the title from Hart at the SummerSlam event in London, England in August) in October. The Hulk Hogan Sid Justice match was billed as Hogan's "last match", when in actuality, Hogan took a hiatus, due to the steroid scandal which was beginning to emerge in the news media. Piper also took a hiatus from the ring following WrestleMania VIII. Roberts left the company and would return four years later, using a "born again Christian" gimmick. Sid Justice was largely unsuccessful in post WrestleMania matches against the Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker and eventually left the company, returning in 1995.