EmpireWF
Giants in the Super Bowl
*Forgot to mention Undertaker in my WM 10 write-up. He didn't appear on the show because for the first time since debuting in 1990, he took time off to heal up some nagging injuries and just chill.
Wrestlemania 11 - 1995
Hartford Civic Center
Hartford, Connecticut
This edition of WM holds the distinction of being the worst attended Wrestlemania of all-time, as long as you consider Wrestlemania 2's separate figures as one.
In my glorious opinion, this year was the hands down worst Wrestlemania ever. The original show in 1985 kind of gets a pass from me because it was the first and it was what it was. Wrestlemania 2 may actually be the worst depending on the day, but any which way you slice it....1995 sucked.
It was an odd and a bad time in WWF because the product in every conceivable way was just not good. They took the belt off Bret for reasons I'm still not entirely sure of at Survivor Series and put it on Bob Backlund who became a serious heel when he attacked Bret on Superstars. Backlund then dropped it in December in mere seconds to Diesel who had turned face at Survivor Series, going after Shawn Michaels. At this show, Bret fought Backlund in an "I Quit" match which is not one of Bret's most favorite matches. It wasn't good, to put it mildly.
Lex Luger made his final Wrestlemania appearance as part of a tag team with the British Bulldog as they defeated the Blu Brothers (the Harris Twins). Jeff Jarrett had made his way to WWE months earlier and started feuding with Razor Ramon for the IC title. Although they had good chemistry, this match was nothing to write home about. Meanwhile, Undertaker had been feuding with Ted Dibiase's Corporation and beat King Kong Bundy here in a forgettable match.
Owen Hart revealed his mystery tag team partner to be Yokozuna as they beat Billy & Bart, the Smoking Gunns to win the tag titles. This would begin a stretch where for the most part, Owen was a great tag worker with the likes of Yokozuna, the British Bulldog and Jeff Jarrett until his untimely passing.
The title match saw champion Diesel defend against Shawn Michaels in his first Wrestlemania main event. Shawn won the 1995 Rumble (being the first #1 entrant to win) to earn the title shot. Shawn's new bodyguard in the build to this match was the returning Sid. To add some flair for the show, they brought in Playboy model and Baywatch star Pam Anderson (before she became what she is today...pre-Tommy sex video too) to be in Diesel's corner and then fellow Playboy model and new MTV star (Singled Out was awesome, btw) Jenny McCarthy to be in Shawn's corner. They did nothing but look fucking hot, which is always welcome.
The match itself was actually pretty damn good considering Diesel was, well, he was Diesel after all. This would be Shawn's first legit sign of delivering on the big stage, work wise. They went back and forth with Shawn using his speed, Diesel using his power, some brawling, etc. until the the end sequence. Shawn hit Diesel with the superkick and went for the pin but Sid accidentally distracted the ref. The delay allowed Diesel to time to recover and he ended up powerbombing Shawn for the win.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcRlNCcRTU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcRlNCcRTU[/ame]
The next night on RAW, Shawn essentially fired Sid feeling he cost him the title. Sid didn't take this too well and powerbombed him about five times until Diesel ran in for the save. And boom, Shawn turned face and was pretty much the #2 babyface, behind Diesel but ahead of Bret (because Bret was mired in mid-card feuds until the end of the year).
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh6hXIfexlg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh6hXIfexlg[/ame]
With all that, Wrestlemania 11 is really all about one man. The greatest defensive football player to ever step on a field....LAWRENCE TAYLOR. It all started at the Rumble where Taylor was sitting ringside. Bam Bam Bigelow lost a match and didn't take too kindly to LT laughing at him. So Bam Bam and LT had a few words until Bam Bam shoved him and it was on. This was their first time involving a celebrity in a wrestling match at WM since 1986 and Mr. T. So the match was set for Wrestlemania. The story goes that Vince chose Bam Bam for the spot because of his great look and the fact that he was a good worker and could take LT to a good match. For the most part, it worked out well. They got a ton of press for LT's involvement and even though they had Taylor beat Bam Bam with a jumping punch off the middle rope, I liked it. Sure, it may have been a bit goofy to have a one-time appearing guy beat one of your main heels, but so what. It's LT and it's Wrestlemania. Also, depending on who you want to believe, Bam Bam was promised a run as one of the top guys after WM but he ended up leaving a few months later. Hearing him talk about it in the years before his death, let's just say he was not a big fan of the Kliq.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLY2lInZ_8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLY2lInZ_8[/ame]
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Wrestlemania 12 - 1996
Arrowhead Pond
Anaheim, California
This Wrestlemania is a mixed bag. Depending on your thoughts of the main event, it was either an above average Wrestlemania or it was average at best. Me? The iron man match wasn't my favorite match and I feel they could have done the whole match without having an iron man setting. The story goes according to Pat Patterson that he wanted to see Bret and Shawn wrestle an iron man match for years but Vince was never sold on doing it on PPV because of the one-hour time. Well, they needed a main event here and Vince decided to use it. Bret won the title at Survivor Series from Diesel who had been a tweener by that point, playing up a heel while keeping some face characteristics. He was fun to watch at that point but it didn't last long...well, not in WWF.
First, :vader: made his Wrestlemania debut here after making his WWF debut at the Rumble. He immediately feuded with Yokozuna (who turned face) and in a six-man, :vader:, Owen and Bulldog beat Yokozuna, Jake Roberts (who returned some time before) and rookie Ahmed Johnson.
Steve Austin made his Wrestlemania debut as the Ringmaster, a protege of Ted Dibiase as he beat Savio Vega in a pretty good ten minute match. Who knew that by the following year, he'd be the most exciting guy in the company?
Speaking of who the fuck knew? The Ultimate Warrior returned and squashed Hunter Hearst Helmsley in about 90 seconds. HHH has told the story of how earlier that day in the locker room, Warrior went up to him and asked him what his finisher was. Hunter told him and Warrior replied he'll kick out and then they'll do their finish. Needless to say, Hunter is not Warrior's biggest fan. Ironically, Warrior was gone within a few months which set up the face turn of Sid (who filled in as a partner for Shawn and Ahmed at an In Your House PPV).
The Undertaker and Diesel had a pretty damn good match that saw Taker beat him with the tombstone. Razor was not on the card and both he and Nash left for WCW in May.
There was a "backlot brawl" between Roddy Piper and Goldust that was done mostly in the parking lot. They popped in some footage of the O.J. chase scene and it ended up with Piper beating Goldust in the ring.
The main event was an hour-long iron man match where the winner would be determined by who got the most falls or submissions at the end of the time period. Well, Bret and Shawn were not hated rivals at this point but they were not close friends either. They worked an hour long without a single fall or submission and WWF President Gorilla Monsoon said there must be a winner and installed a sudden death time. Shawn pretty quickly hit him with the superkick and won his first title.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3U1zIw86w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3U1zIw86w[/ame]
The plan was for Shawn to have his run and then return the favor to Bret the following year...but shit happens.
------------------
Since Shawn wasn't champion at Mania 13, let me cover his run for a bit. Shawn's first run with the title from a quality standpoint was obviously good. He worked with an assortment of guys and almost always had very good to great matches. His first PPV as champion, he wrestled Diesel (who was a full on heel by then) in his last WWF PPV match until his return after WCW died. It's my second favorite Diesel match (behind only the Survivor Series 1995 match with Bret). He also had some great matches with Vader, Mankind and Bulldog, but business wasn't great. I'm not so sure he should get a lot of the blame (although he does for being champ) because anyone in that spot, it would not have mattered. WCW had struck gold with the nWo angle in May and began kicking WWF's ass in the TV ratings battle. RAW was for the most part shit at this point while WCW had tons of top guys (Hogan, Sting, Hall, Nash, Flair, Giant) along with underneath guys who could work up a storm (the luchas, Benoit, Guerrero, Regal, etc.). Shawn buckled a bit under the pressure as he was known to be difficult to work with and would get visibly pissed off at times in matches. His sulking attitude and political style did not make him many friends but I guess that wasn't his job.
Here's video of Shawn's "lost smile" speech...notice the "We Want Sid" chants lol. Also notice Vince stroking him with all the compliments.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVlC2eqdopA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVlC2eqdopA[/ame]
At the end, they decided to pull an audible and switch things up by having Shawn lose the belt at MSG to Sid (if you ever watch this match, Sid was working as a full fledged babyface and the crowd treating Shawn like the heel). He regained the belt at the Alamo Dome at the Rumble (a heavily papered attendance....Shawn was not a big draw, even in his hometown) and all was well in the world as he was on pace to go to WM and lose to Bret.
Nope.
On a February special RAW on a Thursday, Shawn announced he was forfeiting the title because he "lost his smile" and alluded that we saw the last of him because of a serious knee injury. Looking back at it now as Vince acted like a teenage girl who found out Justin Bieber was forced to stop singing, it's half comical and half just plain ol STUPID AS FUCK. Despite what he claimed, when Shawn went to Dr. James Andrews, there was no surgery done and if he was more banged up than usual, well, he got the rest he needed.
With Shawn out of the picture, they called an audible. Bret won the vacant title at the February PPV but lost it the next night on RAW to Sid because of intereference from Steve Austin. They went with Sid and Undertaker and Bret and Austin underneath. Apparently, they panicked and went with the "big guys" on top.
Wrestlemania 13 - 1997
Rosemont Horizon
Rosemont, Illinois
This was the last Wrestlemania I did not see live...because I got in trouble
Thankfully, the show was the shits for hte most part and is the prototypical ONE MATCH show. It just so happens that that one match is considered by many as the greatest match in Wrestlemania history. Go figure.
This marked the first WM appearance for The Rock as Rocky Maivia (he debuted at the 1996 Survivor Series) when he was still a face and being shoved down our throats. He defended the IC title against The Sultan (Rikishi/Fatu). Triple H had gotten out of the dog house, stemming from the May 1996 Kliq Curtain call (instead of winning that years king of the ring, he was being thrown around in slop) and along with Chyna, beat Goldust.
Owen & Bulldog retained the tag titles against Vader and Mankind in a heels vs. heels match that ended in a double count out.
In the main event, the Undertaker beat Sid to win his second world title. I remember next to nothing about this match other than Taker wore his vintage grey colored gloves and boots (I think). Shawn did color commentary for the match which saw Bret come down and try and fight with him.
The bread and butter here was a submission match with KEN SHAMROCK as special ref. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin.
By this point, Stone Cold had won the King of the Ring and his catchphrases were popular and so was he. His first substantial break after winning the KOTR was being chosen by Bret to wrestle him in his first TV match after Wrestlemania 12. In storyline, Austin began calling Bret out and eventually, he accepted. Bret returned at Survivor Series in 1996 and they had a great match that established Austin as a legit guy in the WWE scheme of things. At the Rumble, Bret eliminated Austin but the refs didn't see it so Austin got back in and eliminated Bret to win. After Shawn dropped the title, in a final 4 match (eliminations) it was Bret vs. Vader vs. Austin vs. Undertaker and Bret won. The next night on RAW, Austin hit Bret with a chair, costing him the title.
The RAW before Wrestlemania saw Sid defend the title against Bret in a cage match. Both Taker and Austin interferred trying to help their particular WM opponent win. It was Sid who retained with help of Taker. After the match, Bret shoved Vince and cut an obscenity laced tirade about how he had been screwed and "if you don't like, tough shit!" Essentially, a heel move as they planned the big double turn for Mania. Great stuff, especially because such swearing was almost never done on WWF TV at the time (tons of kids in the crowd...I'm sure their parents were thrilled lol). By the way, watch for Shawn Michaels getting involved in the show ending shmozz for no apparent reason...what a jackass he was back then.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBE9xkhth8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBE9xkhth8[/ame]
In the match itself at WM, Austin was very much a crowd favorite and Bret had received a smattering of boos. They brawled and after twenty minutes, Bret put Austin in the sharpshooter in the middle of the ring as Austin tried to get out of the hold. The close-up shot of his agony filled face was priceless as blood poured down his face and he ultimately passed out. Bret refused to let go of the hold and had to be pulled off by Shamrock. Bret attacked Austin even more and when Shamrock threw him off again and challenged him, Bret ducked away cementing his heel turn. Meanwhile, Austin regained his consciousness, got rid of any refs trying to help and left under his own power to cheers. $$$$$$$$$$
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Awesome match that essentially set up the one character who would take the WWF on his back and make it a billion dollar company before he was done.
Unfortunately for Bret's WWF career, it was his last Wrestlemania match until he returned last year to fight Vince. He made up with his brother Owen and they reformed the Hart Foundation in March and the amazing Canada vs. U.S. angle kicked off. Bret eventually won the title from Taker at Summer Slam and the whole fiasco with Shawn was taking place over this period....leading to the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series. You all know the story by now...
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Wrestlemania 14 - 1998
Fleet Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Depending on your POV, this was the first Wrestlemania to take place during the 'Attitude Era' and about two weeks later, Monday Night RAW finally ended Monday Nitro's ratings dominance that lasted for over 70 consecutive weeks.
Part of the reason of the business success was due to the participation of Mike Tyson. Vince took a gamble and figured they needed something to get more eyeballs on the product and so he reached out to Tyson who was all over it. Tyson was a big wrestling fan and of course, the $3 million paycheck no doubt made it an easy decision. Whatever happened before and after Tyson's RAW debut is meaningless because they got cute by having him join DX only for it to be a swerve at Wrestlemania. Whatever...
One of the greatest segments in RAW history took place the night after the Royal Rumble (which Austin win). Vince brought Tyson and his seemingly million man posse out to the ring to announce Tyson as the special guest ring enforcer for the main event between Austin and Shawn Michaels. Stone Cold came out, stood face to face with Tyson (who was still considered one of the most dangerous boxers...well, at least he still had his don't fuck with me aura), talked shit and flipped him off which followed with a melee. Tyson shoved Austin and the two nearly went at it as all the ringside officials and Tyson's posse tried to get in between the two. It was awesome television.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Mq6UCkwa8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Mq6UCkwa8[/ame]
This was a two match show because beside them, we had HHH beating Owen (talk about dropping the ball...after Survivor Series, Vince refused to let him out of his contract. He did not return to TV until the December PPV when he attacked Shawn Michaels after jumping out of the crowd. He was the hottest babyface they had at that moment. Then they flushed it down the toilet with poor booking and ultimately, they kept him as a midcarder for the rest of his career. The Rock had turned heel in the fall of 1997 and as a member of the Nation of Domination, retained his IC title over Ken Shamrock. In tag title action, Cactus Jack and Terry Funk beat the New Age Outlaws in a dumpster match to win the gold.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdGjxHdYn_s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdGjxHdYn_s[/ame]
The co-main event was a battle between Undertaker and his brother Kane. Kane had debuted in October at the end of the Hell in a Cell match, leading to Taker losing to Shawn. They did the old storyline where the younger brother wants to fight his brother but he won't have it. So after losing the Royal Rumble casket match to Shawn, Kane set the casket on fire. The convuluted storyline to my 10-year old brain was fucking awesome at the time (it went a little something like this: As kids, their parents, Taker and Kane lived in Death Valley or some shit and worked in the funeral business I think. One day, Undertaker accidentally set fire to the home and their parents were killed while Kane was scarred. So Paul Bearer took Kane and kept him while Undertaker believed he had been dead, too. :rofl: They added a lot more shit to it over the next few years leading to it's absolute hysterical nature).
So Taker finally accepted the challenge and they fought. Before the match, Pete Rose came out and needled the Boston crowd until Kane came out and tombstoned him, receiving his first cheers as Kane. They had a fun match that included Taker giving him 3 or 4 tombstones before being able to pin him for the win.
The main event saw a broken Shawn Michaels make what was believed to be the final WM appearance of his career when he defended the belt against Stone Cold. During the casket match at the Rumble, Shawn landed badly on the casket for a bump, nailing his lower back on the corner of the casket. He was fucked. He was in so much pain, he more or less lasted the rest of this run because he was all pilled up. HHH had talked about it once and said he basically had to take care of Shawn because he was all drugged up the majority of the time just so he didn't have to live in agony every waking second. So they knew this was going to be Shawn's last hurrah. With a broken back, it was figured to be the end of his in-ring career. After undergoing surgery, he ended up starting his own school down in Texas and actually began working lightly there a few years later before returning to WWE in 2002 or 2003 (that period is a mess for me).
A side story which has been confirmed over the years by Undertaker and Austin themselves (I believe Shawn denied it in his book), there was some doubt in the locker room as to whether Shawn was willing to lose to Austin that night. The story goes that Undertaker stood by the gorilla position by the curtain, wrapping his hands with tape or something of the sort, making sure Shawn understood he better do business or there would be trouble.
<object width="480" height="270"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xbr799"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xbr799" width="480" height="270" wmode="direct" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbr799_stone-cold-vs-shawn-michaels-wrestl_sport" target="_blank">Stone Cold vs Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 14) 3/3</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/DLWHITE783" target="_blank">DLWHITE783</a></i>
This was Austin's crowning moment as the two brawled for twenty minutes. Give Shawn credit because despite his health by this point, they had a pretty good match all things considered. Austin hit the stunner and Tyson counted the three. After the match, Tyson landed a beautiful "punch" that knocked out Shawn and that was it.
THE AUSTIN ERA HAS BEGUN!
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Wrestlemania 15 - 1999
First Union Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiWQ0UI-7fY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiWQ0UI-7fY[/ame]
A one match show.
This was Owen's last Wrestlemania as he and Jarrett retained the tag titles against Test and D'Lo Brown.
In the culmination of the horribly epic fail of a brawl for all series, the WWF winner Bart Gunn fought Butterbean in a legit boxing match. By fought, I mean, he got knocked the fuck out in about twenty seconds. Bart's future in WWF was pretty much dead with this performance.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxf-BuzB44A"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxf-BuzB44A[/ame]
THE BIG SHOW made his Wrestlemania debut following his WWF debut the month before. Unfortunately, he was treated like your average guy right out of the gate because he did not know the WWF style and didn't pay his dues.
Triple H and Chyna turned heel on the show by turning on X-Pac and helping Shane McMahon (in his WM wrestling debut) retain the European title. They joined Vince's Corporation.
The Undertaker defeated the Big Bossman in perhaps the most forgettable hell a cell ever. It ended with Taker literally hanging Bossman with a noose from the top of the cage. Bossman was on RAW the next night.
The main event saw Rock, the top heel (aligned with Vince) defend the title against Austin. Rock won it in a vacant tournament at Survivor Series 1998 by turning heel and being aided by the McMahons to screw over Foley. Austin won the title and the series was off and running.
Jim Ross was afflicted with his second case of Bells Palsy in the months before which led to Michael Cole becoming the lead play by play guy (he was a legit journalist before he came to WWF). For this match only, Ross returned to call it because both Austin and Rock requested him. Ross literally ahd to hold his face up because of the illness while calling the match...and he still did a great job.
The rest of the year featured a bunch of title changes... to Undertaker, to Austin, to Foley, to HHH, to Big Show. Austin was written out of storylines in November (he was "hit by a car" in the parking lot....which was revealed to be Rikishi in an epic fail storyline) so he could finally undergo neck surgery to repair the damage suffered at Summer Slam in 1997. He would miss several months including the next years Wrestlemania.
Wrestlemania 11 - 1995
Hartford Civic Center
Hartford, Connecticut
This edition of WM holds the distinction of being the worst attended Wrestlemania of all-time, as long as you consider Wrestlemania 2's separate figures as one.
In my glorious opinion, this year was the hands down worst Wrestlemania ever. The original show in 1985 kind of gets a pass from me because it was the first and it was what it was. Wrestlemania 2 may actually be the worst depending on the day, but any which way you slice it....1995 sucked.
It was an odd and a bad time in WWF because the product in every conceivable way was just not good. They took the belt off Bret for reasons I'm still not entirely sure of at Survivor Series and put it on Bob Backlund who became a serious heel when he attacked Bret on Superstars. Backlund then dropped it in December in mere seconds to Diesel who had turned face at Survivor Series, going after Shawn Michaels. At this show, Bret fought Backlund in an "I Quit" match which is not one of Bret's most favorite matches. It wasn't good, to put it mildly.
Lex Luger made his final Wrestlemania appearance as part of a tag team with the British Bulldog as they defeated the Blu Brothers (the Harris Twins). Jeff Jarrett had made his way to WWE months earlier and started feuding with Razor Ramon for the IC title. Although they had good chemistry, this match was nothing to write home about. Meanwhile, Undertaker had been feuding with Ted Dibiase's Corporation and beat King Kong Bundy here in a forgettable match.
Owen Hart revealed his mystery tag team partner to be Yokozuna as they beat Billy & Bart, the Smoking Gunns to win the tag titles. This would begin a stretch where for the most part, Owen was a great tag worker with the likes of Yokozuna, the British Bulldog and Jeff Jarrett until his untimely passing.
The title match saw champion Diesel defend against Shawn Michaels in his first Wrestlemania main event. Shawn won the 1995 Rumble (being the first #1 entrant to win) to earn the title shot. Shawn's new bodyguard in the build to this match was the returning Sid. To add some flair for the show, they brought in Playboy model and Baywatch star Pam Anderson (before she became what she is today...pre-Tommy sex video too) to be in Diesel's corner and then fellow Playboy model and new MTV star (Singled Out was awesome, btw) Jenny McCarthy to be in Shawn's corner. They did nothing but look fucking hot, which is always welcome.
The match itself was actually pretty damn good considering Diesel was, well, he was Diesel after all. This would be Shawn's first legit sign of delivering on the big stage, work wise. They went back and forth with Shawn using his speed, Diesel using his power, some brawling, etc. until the the end sequence. Shawn hit Diesel with the superkick and went for the pin but Sid accidentally distracted the ref. The delay allowed Diesel to time to recover and he ended up powerbombing Shawn for the win.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcRlNCcRTU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcRlNCcRTU[/ame]
The next night on RAW, Shawn essentially fired Sid feeling he cost him the title. Sid didn't take this too well and powerbombed him about five times until Diesel ran in for the save. And boom, Shawn turned face and was pretty much the #2 babyface, behind Diesel but ahead of Bret (because Bret was mired in mid-card feuds until the end of the year).
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh6hXIfexlg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh6hXIfexlg[/ame]
With all that, Wrestlemania 11 is really all about one man. The greatest defensive football player to ever step on a field....LAWRENCE TAYLOR. It all started at the Rumble where Taylor was sitting ringside. Bam Bam Bigelow lost a match and didn't take too kindly to LT laughing at him. So Bam Bam and LT had a few words until Bam Bam shoved him and it was on. This was their first time involving a celebrity in a wrestling match at WM since 1986 and Mr. T. So the match was set for Wrestlemania. The story goes that Vince chose Bam Bam for the spot because of his great look and the fact that he was a good worker and could take LT to a good match. For the most part, it worked out well. They got a ton of press for LT's involvement and even though they had Taylor beat Bam Bam with a jumping punch off the middle rope, I liked it. Sure, it may have been a bit goofy to have a one-time appearing guy beat one of your main heels, but so what. It's LT and it's Wrestlemania. Also, depending on who you want to believe, Bam Bam was promised a run as one of the top guys after WM but he ended up leaving a few months later. Hearing him talk about it in the years before his death, let's just say he was not a big fan of the Kliq.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLY2lInZ_8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLY2lInZ_8[/ame]
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Wrestlemania 12 - 1996
Arrowhead Pond
Anaheim, California
This Wrestlemania is a mixed bag. Depending on your thoughts of the main event, it was either an above average Wrestlemania or it was average at best. Me? The iron man match wasn't my favorite match and I feel they could have done the whole match without having an iron man setting. The story goes according to Pat Patterson that he wanted to see Bret and Shawn wrestle an iron man match for years but Vince was never sold on doing it on PPV because of the one-hour time. Well, they needed a main event here and Vince decided to use it. Bret won the title at Survivor Series from Diesel who had been a tweener by that point, playing up a heel while keeping some face characteristics. He was fun to watch at that point but it didn't last long...well, not in WWF.
First, :vader: made his Wrestlemania debut here after making his WWF debut at the Rumble. He immediately feuded with Yokozuna (who turned face) and in a six-man, :vader:, Owen and Bulldog beat Yokozuna, Jake Roberts (who returned some time before) and rookie Ahmed Johnson.
Steve Austin made his Wrestlemania debut as the Ringmaster, a protege of Ted Dibiase as he beat Savio Vega in a pretty good ten minute match. Who knew that by the following year, he'd be the most exciting guy in the company?
Speaking of who the fuck knew? The Ultimate Warrior returned and squashed Hunter Hearst Helmsley in about 90 seconds. HHH has told the story of how earlier that day in the locker room, Warrior went up to him and asked him what his finisher was. Hunter told him and Warrior replied he'll kick out and then they'll do their finish. Needless to say, Hunter is not Warrior's biggest fan. Ironically, Warrior was gone within a few months which set up the face turn of Sid (who filled in as a partner for Shawn and Ahmed at an In Your House PPV).
The Undertaker and Diesel had a pretty damn good match that saw Taker beat him with the tombstone. Razor was not on the card and both he and Nash left for WCW in May.
There was a "backlot brawl" between Roddy Piper and Goldust that was done mostly in the parking lot. They popped in some footage of the O.J. chase scene and it ended up with Piper beating Goldust in the ring.
The main event was an hour-long iron man match where the winner would be determined by who got the most falls or submissions at the end of the time period. Well, Bret and Shawn were not hated rivals at this point but they were not close friends either. They worked an hour long without a single fall or submission and WWF President Gorilla Monsoon said there must be a winner and installed a sudden death time. Shawn pretty quickly hit him with the superkick and won his first title.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3U1zIw86w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3U1zIw86w[/ame]
The plan was for Shawn to have his run and then return the favor to Bret the following year...but shit happens.
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Since Shawn wasn't champion at Mania 13, let me cover his run for a bit. Shawn's first run with the title from a quality standpoint was obviously good. He worked with an assortment of guys and almost always had very good to great matches. His first PPV as champion, he wrestled Diesel (who was a full on heel by then) in his last WWF PPV match until his return after WCW died. It's my second favorite Diesel match (behind only the Survivor Series 1995 match with Bret). He also had some great matches with Vader, Mankind and Bulldog, but business wasn't great. I'm not so sure he should get a lot of the blame (although he does for being champ) because anyone in that spot, it would not have mattered. WCW had struck gold with the nWo angle in May and began kicking WWF's ass in the TV ratings battle. RAW was for the most part shit at this point while WCW had tons of top guys (Hogan, Sting, Hall, Nash, Flair, Giant) along with underneath guys who could work up a storm (the luchas, Benoit, Guerrero, Regal, etc.). Shawn buckled a bit under the pressure as he was known to be difficult to work with and would get visibly pissed off at times in matches. His sulking attitude and political style did not make him many friends but I guess that wasn't his job.
Here's video of Shawn's "lost smile" speech...notice the "We Want Sid" chants lol. Also notice Vince stroking him with all the compliments.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVlC2eqdopA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVlC2eqdopA[/ame]
At the end, they decided to pull an audible and switch things up by having Shawn lose the belt at MSG to Sid (if you ever watch this match, Sid was working as a full fledged babyface and the crowd treating Shawn like the heel). He regained the belt at the Alamo Dome at the Rumble (a heavily papered attendance....Shawn was not a big draw, even in his hometown) and all was well in the world as he was on pace to go to WM and lose to Bret.
Nope.
On a February special RAW on a Thursday, Shawn announced he was forfeiting the title because he "lost his smile" and alluded that we saw the last of him because of a serious knee injury. Looking back at it now as Vince acted like a teenage girl who found out Justin Bieber was forced to stop singing, it's half comical and half just plain ol STUPID AS FUCK. Despite what he claimed, when Shawn went to Dr. James Andrews, there was no surgery done and if he was more banged up than usual, well, he got the rest he needed.
With Shawn out of the picture, they called an audible. Bret won the vacant title at the February PPV but lost it the next night on RAW to Sid because of intereference from Steve Austin. They went with Sid and Undertaker and Bret and Austin underneath. Apparently, they panicked and went with the "big guys" on top.
Wrestlemania 13 - 1997
Rosemont Horizon
Rosemont, Illinois
This was the last Wrestlemania I did not see live...because I got in trouble
Thankfully, the show was the shits for hte most part and is the prototypical ONE MATCH show. It just so happens that that one match is considered by many as the greatest match in Wrestlemania history. Go figure.This marked the first WM appearance for The Rock as Rocky Maivia (he debuted at the 1996 Survivor Series) when he was still a face and being shoved down our throats. He defended the IC title against The Sultan (Rikishi/Fatu). Triple H had gotten out of the dog house, stemming from the May 1996 Kliq Curtain call (instead of winning that years king of the ring, he was being thrown around in slop) and along with Chyna, beat Goldust.
Owen & Bulldog retained the tag titles against Vader and Mankind in a heels vs. heels match that ended in a double count out.
In the main event, the Undertaker beat Sid to win his second world title. I remember next to nothing about this match other than Taker wore his vintage grey colored gloves and boots (I think). Shawn did color commentary for the match which saw Bret come down and try and fight with him.
The bread and butter here was a submission match with KEN SHAMROCK as special ref. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin.
By this point, Stone Cold had won the King of the Ring and his catchphrases were popular and so was he. His first substantial break after winning the KOTR was being chosen by Bret to wrestle him in his first TV match after Wrestlemania 12. In storyline, Austin began calling Bret out and eventually, he accepted. Bret returned at Survivor Series in 1996 and they had a great match that established Austin as a legit guy in the WWE scheme of things. At the Rumble, Bret eliminated Austin but the refs didn't see it so Austin got back in and eliminated Bret to win. After Shawn dropped the title, in a final 4 match (eliminations) it was Bret vs. Vader vs. Austin vs. Undertaker and Bret won. The next night on RAW, Austin hit Bret with a chair, costing him the title.
The RAW before Wrestlemania saw Sid defend the title against Bret in a cage match. Both Taker and Austin interferred trying to help their particular WM opponent win. It was Sid who retained with help of Taker. After the match, Bret shoved Vince and cut an obscenity laced tirade about how he had been screwed and "if you don't like, tough shit!" Essentially, a heel move as they planned the big double turn for Mania. Great stuff, especially because such swearing was almost never done on WWF TV at the time (tons of kids in the crowd...I'm sure their parents were thrilled lol). By the way, watch for Shawn Michaels getting involved in the show ending shmozz for no apparent reason...what a jackass he was back then.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBE9xkhth8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBE9xkhth8[/ame]
In the match itself at WM, Austin was very much a crowd favorite and Bret had received a smattering of boos. They brawled and after twenty minutes, Bret put Austin in the sharpshooter in the middle of the ring as Austin tried to get out of the hold. The close-up shot of his agony filled face was priceless as blood poured down his face and he ultimately passed out. Bret refused to let go of the hold and had to be pulled off by Shamrock. Bret attacked Austin even more and when Shamrock threw him off again and challenged him, Bret ducked away cementing his heel turn. Meanwhile, Austin regained his consciousness, got rid of any refs trying to help and left under his own power to cheers. $$$$$$$$$$
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Awesome match that essentially set up the one character who would take the WWF on his back and make it a billion dollar company before he was done.
Unfortunately for Bret's WWF career, it was his last Wrestlemania match until he returned last year to fight Vince. He made up with his brother Owen and they reformed the Hart Foundation in March and the amazing Canada vs. U.S. angle kicked off. Bret eventually won the title from Taker at Summer Slam and the whole fiasco with Shawn was taking place over this period....leading to the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series. You all know the story by now...
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Wrestlemania 14 - 1998
Fleet Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Depending on your POV, this was the first Wrestlemania to take place during the 'Attitude Era' and about two weeks later, Monday Night RAW finally ended Monday Nitro's ratings dominance that lasted for over 70 consecutive weeks.
Part of the reason of the business success was due to the participation of Mike Tyson. Vince took a gamble and figured they needed something to get more eyeballs on the product and so he reached out to Tyson who was all over it. Tyson was a big wrestling fan and of course, the $3 million paycheck no doubt made it an easy decision. Whatever happened before and after Tyson's RAW debut is meaningless because they got cute by having him join DX only for it to be a swerve at Wrestlemania. Whatever...
One of the greatest segments in RAW history took place the night after the Royal Rumble (which Austin win). Vince brought Tyson and his seemingly million man posse out to the ring to announce Tyson as the special guest ring enforcer for the main event between Austin and Shawn Michaels. Stone Cold came out, stood face to face with Tyson (who was still considered one of the most dangerous boxers...well, at least he still had his don't fuck with me aura), talked shit and flipped him off which followed with a melee. Tyson shoved Austin and the two nearly went at it as all the ringside officials and Tyson's posse tried to get in between the two. It was awesome television.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Mq6UCkwa8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Mq6UCkwa8[/ame]
This was a two match show because beside them, we had HHH beating Owen (talk about dropping the ball...after Survivor Series, Vince refused to let him out of his contract. He did not return to TV until the December PPV when he attacked Shawn Michaels after jumping out of the crowd. He was the hottest babyface they had at that moment. Then they flushed it down the toilet with poor booking and ultimately, they kept him as a midcarder for the rest of his career. The Rock had turned heel in the fall of 1997 and as a member of the Nation of Domination, retained his IC title over Ken Shamrock. In tag title action, Cactus Jack and Terry Funk beat the New Age Outlaws in a dumpster match to win the gold.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdGjxHdYn_s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdGjxHdYn_s[/ame]
The co-main event was a battle between Undertaker and his brother Kane. Kane had debuted in October at the end of the Hell in a Cell match, leading to Taker losing to Shawn. They did the old storyline where the younger brother wants to fight his brother but he won't have it. So after losing the Royal Rumble casket match to Shawn, Kane set the casket on fire. The convuluted storyline to my 10-year old brain was fucking awesome at the time (it went a little something like this: As kids, their parents, Taker and Kane lived in Death Valley or some shit and worked in the funeral business I think. One day, Undertaker accidentally set fire to the home and their parents were killed while Kane was scarred. So Paul Bearer took Kane and kept him while Undertaker believed he had been dead, too. :rofl: They added a lot more shit to it over the next few years leading to it's absolute hysterical nature).
So Taker finally accepted the challenge and they fought. Before the match, Pete Rose came out and needled the Boston crowd until Kane came out and tombstoned him, receiving his first cheers as Kane. They had a fun match that included Taker giving him 3 or 4 tombstones before being able to pin him for the win.
The main event saw a broken Shawn Michaels make what was believed to be the final WM appearance of his career when he defended the belt against Stone Cold. During the casket match at the Rumble, Shawn landed badly on the casket for a bump, nailing his lower back on the corner of the casket. He was fucked. He was in so much pain, he more or less lasted the rest of this run because he was all pilled up. HHH had talked about it once and said he basically had to take care of Shawn because he was all drugged up the majority of the time just so he didn't have to live in agony every waking second. So they knew this was going to be Shawn's last hurrah. With a broken back, it was figured to be the end of his in-ring career. After undergoing surgery, he ended up starting his own school down in Texas and actually began working lightly there a few years later before returning to WWE in 2002 or 2003 (that period is a mess for me).
A side story which has been confirmed over the years by Undertaker and Austin themselves (I believe Shawn denied it in his book), there was some doubt in the locker room as to whether Shawn was willing to lose to Austin that night. The story goes that Undertaker stood by the gorilla position by the curtain, wrapping his hands with tape or something of the sort, making sure Shawn understood he better do business or there would be trouble.
<object width="480" height="270"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xbr799"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xbr799" width="480" height="270" wmode="direct" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbr799_stone-cold-vs-shawn-michaels-wrestl_sport" target="_blank">Stone Cold vs Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 14) 3/3</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/DLWHITE783" target="_blank">DLWHITE783</a></i>
This was Austin's crowning moment as the two brawled for twenty minutes. Give Shawn credit because despite his health by this point, they had a pretty good match all things considered. Austin hit the stunner and Tyson counted the three. After the match, Tyson landed a beautiful "punch" that knocked out Shawn and that was it.
THE AUSTIN ERA HAS BEGUN!
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Wrestlemania 15 - 1999
First Union Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiWQ0UI-7fY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiWQ0UI-7fY[/ame]
A one match show.
This was Owen's last Wrestlemania as he and Jarrett retained the tag titles against Test and D'Lo Brown.
In the culmination of the horribly epic fail of a brawl for all series, the WWF winner Bart Gunn fought Butterbean in a legit boxing match. By fought, I mean, he got knocked the fuck out in about twenty seconds. Bart's future in WWF was pretty much dead with this performance.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxf-BuzB44A"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxf-BuzB44A[/ame]
THE BIG SHOW made his Wrestlemania debut following his WWF debut the month before. Unfortunately, he was treated like your average guy right out of the gate because he did not know the WWF style and didn't pay his dues.
Triple H and Chyna turned heel on the show by turning on X-Pac and helping Shane McMahon (in his WM wrestling debut) retain the European title. They joined Vince's Corporation.
The Undertaker defeated the Big Bossman in perhaps the most forgettable hell a cell ever. It ended with Taker literally hanging Bossman with a noose from the top of the cage. Bossman was on RAW the next night.
The main event saw Rock, the top heel (aligned with Vince) defend the title against Austin. Rock won it in a vacant tournament at Survivor Series 1998 by turning heel and being aided by the McMahons to screw over Foley. Austin won the title and the series was off and running.
Jim Ross was afflicted with his second case of Bells Palsy in the months before which led to Michael Cole becoming the lead play by play guy (he was a legit journalist before he came to WWF). For this match only, Ross returned to call it because both Austin and Rock requested him. Ross literally ahd to hold his face up because of the illness while calling the match...and he still did a great job.
The rest of the year featured a bunch of title changes... to Undertaker, to Austin, to Foley, to HHH, to Big Show. Austin was written out of storylines in November (he was "hit by a car" in the parking lot....which was revealed to be Rikishi in an epic fail storyline) so he could finally undergo neck surgery to repair the damage suffered at Summer Slam in 1997. He would miss several months including the next years Wrestlemania.
