February 5th, 1988 will go down in World Wrestling Federation history as a day of infamy.

Never before has there been such controversy to surround a World Wrestling Federation Championship match.

Despite having viewed time and again videotapes of the Hogan-Andre match,

the decision of the referee is, as always, unfortunately, final.

Therefore, Hulk Hogan is not the World Wrestling Federation Champion.

However, it clearly states in the rule book that in order for a wrestler to be deemed a champion,

he must either pin the reigning title holder or make him

submit. That is the only way a wrestler can become champion. Therefore, unequivocably, I can state

that Ted DiBiase is also not the World Wrestling Federation champion. Furthermore, it also clearly states in the rulebook

that a reigning champion may at any time in his tenure end his reign by publicly surrendering

the title which is exactly what happened when Andre the Giant presented the championship

belt to Ted DiBiase.

Therefore, Andre is also not the champion either.

It is my decision that to be fair to the last two reigning champions of record,

Hogan and Andre, and to furthermore be fair with the number one

contenders who would have faced either Andre or Hogan as champion, I now declare the title

vacant. And this vacancy to be filled on March 27th of this year during WrestleMania 4 in the form of the first ever

World Wrestling Federation Championship Tournament. In this championship tournament, the last two

title holders of record hogan and andre

will justifiably be given a by

for the first round of competition

they will not

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