Wrestlemania XXX will take place on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Thirty years of events means, at the very least, thirty crazy stories about the matches, personalities and egos that have changed the face of sports entertainment. To celebrate thirty years of ‘Mania, the Camel Clutch has dug through the archives and dirt sheets to uncover some of the untold stories and rumors surrounding some of Wrestlemania’s biggest matches.
There are some great nuggets of info throughout the piece, but this Wrestlemania back story really jumped out because it involved one of my all time favorite wrestlers and my all time favorite heel — “The Macho Man” Randy Savage and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase.
Savage defeated DiBiase in the tournament to win the WWE championship which also started one of the greatest builds in WWE history towards a Mania 5 headliner with Savage and Hogan. Was that always in the plans? According to Ted DiBiase it wasn’t. DiBiase claims that he was supposed to win the WM 4 tournament and the title. Savage was supposed to win the intercontinental belt months earlier but the Honkytonk Man refused to put Savage over. Savage wound up going over at 4 as a consolation prize of sorts with DiBiase getting the Million Dollar title to makeup for the change in plans. Ironically DiBiase was also promised the NWA world title at one point and got screwed as well.
Even as a kid, I found it odd that DiBiase never held the heavyweight championship. The Million Dollar Belt was nice to look at but it really meant nothing at the time. If it wasn’t the heavyweight strap, Intercontinental title or tag belts it was nothing more than a novelty item for wrestlers to fight over.
At least it was a step up from the King of the Ring crown.
30 WrestleMania Backstage Stories and Urban Legends [The Camel Clutch]