6. Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase – 3/12/88
In another case of a major PPV main event occurring on free TV just weeks earlier (To be fair it wasn’t publicly known this would be the WrestleMania IV main event), these two top contenders for the vacant WWF Title faced off in a pretty great SNME match.
Savage was positioned as an underdog who repeatedly had to contend with Dibiase’s entourage interfering in the match, and after a countout loss and post-match beatdown, Elizabeth would once again call to Hulk Hogan for assistance. This would of course foreshadow Hogan’s assist in Savage winning the ‘Mania 4 main event (which I always thought was a mistake but that’s an argument for another time). Savage was growing as a top babyface character, and this match nicely set up his near-impossible WrestleMania quest to become the WWF Champion.
5. Dream Team vs. British Bulldogs – 3/1/86
Once again the WWF gave away a major PPV match just before the PPV; this time it was Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake defending the Tag Team Championship against Cinderella babyface team The British Bulldogs.
Interestingly though, this match was actually better in my opinion than their WrestleMania 2 clash, as it featured more back and forth action and had a proper third act. The Bulldogs came up short here but of course won the straps at the PPV.
