FOTD: Who did Macho Man Randy Savage defeat in the tournament final at Wrestlemania IV to become WWF Champion?

This is without a doubt one of my favorite Wrestlemania memories. The reason being, I was there to see it live in Atlantic City, New Jersey on March 27, 1988. I was 17 at the time and my brother took me and my niece to see it. It was so great!

Anyway, the WWF Championship had been vacated by WWF President Jack Tunney after Andre The Giant defeated Hulk Hogan for the belt at The Main Event (The first ever Saturday Night’s Main Event) on February 5, 1988 and then sold the title to The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase minutes later.

So there was to be a 14-man Tournament to decide the new champion. Here is how the tournament went.

First Round:

Ted DiBiase defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Don Muraco defeated Dino Bravo via disqualification
Randy Savage defeated Butch Reed
One Man Gang defeated Bam Bam Bigelow
Greg Valentine defeated Ricky Steamboat
Rick Rude and Jake Roberts fought to a time limit draw and were both eliminated.
As the former champions, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant got a bye into the quarterfinals where they would face one another.

Quarterfinals:

Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were both disqualified and eliminated.
Ted DiBiase defeated Don Muraco
Randy Savge defeated Greg Valentine
One Man Gang got a bye due to the Rude-Roberts time limit draw.

Semi-Finals:

Ted DiBiase got a bye into the finals due to the Hogan-Andre double DQ.
Randy Savage defeated One Man Gang via disqualification when Gang used Slick’s cane to try and attack Savage.

Finals:

In the end it was Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase.

Andre the Giant and Bobby The Brain Heenan accompanied DiBiase to the ring. Halfway through the match Miss Elizabeth went to the back and got Hulk Hogan to come down to the ring to help offset the outside interference of Andre, Heenan, and Virgil. Then while the referee was busy getting Andre to stop interfering Hogan took a steel chair and hit DiBiase with it. Savage hit his big elbow drop from the top rope and got the pin.

The Mega-Powers were born, Hogan, Savage, and Liz stayed in the ring and celebrated.