Still coming to you as the World Wrestling Federation.  Damn if I can’t remember when the switch came.  I could have sworn it was around this time.  We start off with a Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels promo and go [...]]]> Event: WrestleMania XII
Date: March 31, 1996
Venue: Arrowhead Pond (Anaheim, California)
Attendance: 18,853

Still coming to you as the World Wrestling Federation.  Damn if I can’t remember when the switch came.  I could have sworn it was around this time.  We start off with a Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels promo and go right into the action – No America The Beautiful or National Anthem.

Camp Cornette (Vader, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog) (with Jim Cornette) defeated Yokozuna, Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson (with Mr. Fuji)
Jake Roberts looks REALLY out of place on his team.  The Sesame Street One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others song ran through my head when I saw it.  Yoko’s team is playing face here and we start off with all 6 guys in the ring with the baby faces getting the upper hand.  I can’t for the life of me remember what happened between Owen & Yoko.  The last WrestleMania they walked out as champs.  * Shrugs *  Apparently, if Yoko’s team wins, he gets 5 minutes alone in the ring with Jim Cornette.  We KNOW that’s not going to happen, so the outcome here is a foregone conclusion.  The Bulldog looks rather small here… must be off the roids at this point in his career.  Pretty standard 6-man stuff here which is to say rather boring.  Is Jake EVER going to tag into this match?  Yep… finally he lumbers in wearing his full body gear to hide his gut.  He promptly starts getting his ass handed to him.  Bulldog hits a power slam on Jake and he actually kicks out – WOW.  Jake kicks out of a Vader splash as well (what the hell?) and manages to make a tag to Yoko.  After a few minutes, Jake is inexplicably tagged back in and hits a DDT on Owen but Cornette comes in to break the count.  Vader bomb on Jake and it’s over.  Thank God.

Stone Cold Steve Austin (with Ted DiBiase) defeated Savio Vega
Stone Cold is the “Million Dollar Champion” here playing the heel in a match before he absolutely blew up (see WrestleMania 13).  Quick start to the match with a ton of punches and slaps.  Austin takes over with some good heel stuff from Austin.  Even here you can tell he’s definitely on his way.  Roddy Piper calls in on his cell phone (see Hollywood Backlot Brawl) and he and Vince talk over Austin/Vega for far too long.  Austin in full on methodical mode here keeping the upper hand.  We’re shown some footage of Piper following Goldust but it’s just recycled OJ footage… groan.  Meanwhile, Vega hits Austin with a huge kick and sends him down.  Quite a few pin attempts by both guys.  Austin goes to the top rope (huh?) and gets caught when Vega gets a boot up.  Vega works up some good momentum until he inadvertently kicks the ref.  Austin nails Vega with the Million Dollar belt and the slaps on the Million Dollar Dream.  DiBiase wakes up the ref who sees Austin with Vega in the hold in the middle of the ring.  Austin gets the win.  Decent match for a mid card (minus the crappy Piper/Goldust storyline).

The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with Sable)
HHH here in full blueblood getup escorted by Sable before she was Sable. The Warrior is returning to the WWF after an extended layoff and naturally has the same shtick as always: fly down to ring, shake the ropes, bandannas, etc.  HHH attacks from behind to start the match.  Whips Warrior to the ropes, boot to midsection and hits the Pedigree.  Warrior no sells it and stands straight up.  Clotheslines, shoulder block, gorilla press slam, splash and pin.  Squash win for the Warrior for his return match.  HHH must not have been fucking Stephanie at this point or he would never have been asked to do a job like this.  Looking back this was a pretty terrible “match” but at the time I remember absolutely loving it.

After the match, we get an interview with new Superstar Marc Mero.  Ahh, so THAT’s why Sable was on HHH’s arm.  For those of you that don’t know, Sable and Marc Mero were married at this point.  Right on cue, HHH busts in to interrupt the interview and Mero and he get into it.  We cut away from that to some more annoying Piper/Goldust footage.

The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Diesel
Diesel is announced as being 7 feet tall.  Taker is dressed in the purple gear with black greasy hair.  This match contains some absolutely unbelievable moves from two big guys.  Cross body block by Taker followed up by the old school rope walk.  This is SUCH a better match than Taker/Gonzalez from WrestleMania IX it’s not even funny.  The crowd is totally behind Taker here but Diesel is in control for the majority of the match playing the heel quite nicely.  Taker makes a comeback and they go with some “big men mirror” moves such as the “same time punch/kick” spot.  Taker is up first and goes to the top and hits a big clothesline.  Quite literally out of nowhere, Diesel hits a Jackknife, taunts the Undertaker and then hits another.  More taunts and then after a minute finally goes for a pin attempt only to be grabbed by the neck.  Diesel pummels Taker back to the mat.  UT works his way back up and Diesel hits a nice looking side suplex (RIP Dino Bravo).  Undertaker works his way back and they’re slugging it out.  Taker hits a clothesline followed by a weak ass looking choke slam and a Tombstone for the win.  Good big man match as I’m a huge fan of Taker and have always enjoyed Nash in a heel role.

Hollywood Backlot Brawl
Roddy Piper defeated Goldust (with Marlena)
The coverage of this “match” actually begins after the first match of the night and continues throughout the entire show.  We’re given a nice recap which is good cause I really don’t remember the storyline at this point.  Piper is the acting president of the WWF and apparently Goldust has become enamored with him.  This “match” begins with Piper beating the hell out of Goldust’s Cadillac.  Um… OK.  Piper drags Goldust out of the car and beats the snot out of him for about 5 minutes.  Goldy gets a low blow, gets back in his car, hits Piper with the car and speeds away.  Piper jumps in a white Bronco (come on WWF, you can do better than that) and follows him.  [Insert Austin/Vega match]  After the Austin/Vega match, we’re shown some more OJ footage.  Vince actually says something to the effect of, “This looks familiar.”  No shit Vince.  Its one thing to try to be clever and show us OJ footage but it’s another thing to actually call it out on your own show.  More footage after the HHH/Warrior match and after Diesel/Taker we’re back with live footage.  Why in the hell would Goldust ever come back to the arena?  Naturally, they make their way to the ring.  Goldust takes over beating on Piper’s legs.  Goldust is SO gay at this point it’s completely over the top.  He rips of Piper’s shirt and chokes him with it.  Goldust is all over Piper and the kisses him (WTF) which sends Piper over the edge.  Piper grabs Goldust by the balls (yep… you read that right) and proceeds to knee him in the nuts, spank his ass, strip him down (Goldust is wearing lingerie) and kiss him back.  Jesus H Christ, I can’t believe I just had to write that sentence.  Another ball shot from Piper and Goldust leaves the ring.  So, I guess Piper’s the winner?  One thing’s for sure… we lose.  Some WWF writer is so homophobic it’s not even funny.  I know this was at the beginning of the “Attitude Era” but this was just way over the top and completely ridiculous.

Iron Man Match for the WWF Championship
Shawn Michaels (with Jose Lothario) defeated Bret Hart (c)
One of my Top 10 WrestleMania Matches of all time and it definitely holds up well.  We get a nice intro to the Iron Man Match and Gorilla Monsoon is introduced as the new President of the WWF.  This seems out of place, but is important later in the night.  Jose Lothario comes out to Shawn’s music but he’s by himself.  He takes a couple of steps, stops and points to the rafters.  At this point, we see Shawn on a zipline and he takes the ride we’ve seen in every WWE promo since.  In Vince’s words, “Ahhh, what a ride!!!”  Shawn showboats for a while and then it’s time for the Hitman to make his entrance.  Interesting to see Shawn clapping for Bret as he makes his way down.  We get an old school knee pad check and instructions.  Per Earl Hebner this is an “Arn Man Match” and we’ll be “Rasslin for 60 minutes”.  Bret kisses the belt, gives his shades to his son and we’re off and running.  The crowd is pretty dead early on but I’m not sure I’d be all that psyched at the start of a match that I knew would be 60 minutes.  Speaking of the crowd, they’re definitely behind Shawn in this one.  King and Vince keep referring to the importance of the “first decision”.  Bret goes into a headlock spot for a good couple of minutes.  There are some very good “wrestling” sequences in here.  You totally expect that sort of thing from Hart but not necessarily from Michaels.  Very impressive.  King and Vince keep referring to Shawn’s “Mexican” moves – shows just how far wrestling has come since 96.  At the 45 minute mark, Bret finds himself sitting on the outside in the timekeeper’s lap (don’t ask).  HBK goes for a super kick, Bret moves and the timekeeper takes the kick right to the face – nice spot.  The stretcher is brought out for this poor dude and we’re back to a rest hold in the ring.  This spot was clearly there to show the “power” of Shawn’s super kick.  Back in the ring, some very good storytelling going on here with HBK continuing to work on Bret’s shoulder.  Shawn in control mid match with a ton of great back and forth action throughout.  Absolutely amazing that these guys aren’t just gassed by the end of this thing (or halfway through for that matter).  Huge props to both guys for the effort level. HBK goes over the corner turnbuckle to the outside in an amazing spot that allows Bret to take over and work on the back at about the 20 minute remaining mark.  Bret’s in charge big time and with about 13 minutes remaining King and Vince first mention the fact that one fall might win this thing.  Classic double clothesline spot with 7:30 remaining and Shawn manages to make a comeback at the 4 minute mark. The last 3 minutes of this match are absolutely unbelievable with a TON of near falls with Shawn really pouring it on trying to get the victory.  With 34 seconds remaining on the clock, Shawn goes off the top ropes but Bret catches him and locks him in the Sharpshooter.  Time expires with Shawn in the hold but he never gives up.  The ref gives the belt to Bret and he leaves the ring.  Gorilla (remember, the new President) gets in the ring and announces that the match must continue in sudden death until we have a winner.  Bret’s all kinds of pissed off (rightfully so in my opinion) but he’s back in the ring going to town on Shawn’s back.  HBK whipped into the corner, leap frogs Bret and hits Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere but is too injured to capitalize and get the pin.  He hits Hart with another and gets the pin clean in the middle of the ring for the title.  Historic match that every fan needs to see with an amazing climax to regulation and overtime.

General Thoughts

• There was a Free For All match between The Bodydonnas (with Sunny) and The Godwinns (with Hillbilly Jim) for the vacant WWF Tag Team Championship.  The Bodydonnas won both the match and the award for better looking valet   Kind of shocked that a title match was put on a Free For All but I’m not going to complain cause couldn’t care less about either team.
• One word: Marlena.  Damn.
• The Hollywood Backlot Brawl is an interesting idea, but they way they have it interspersed within the entire show gets really annoying. The fact that WWF went with OJ chase footage is in poor taste even for them.
• Shawn was a legitimate dick at this point in his career (self admitted).  If you read his lips after he’s won the title and is being presented with the belt, he says something to the effect of, “Get him out of my ring” referring to Hart.  If my memory serves me correctly, Hart recounts this in his book.
• With only 6 matches on the card including a 60 minute match to end I thought this would be a slow show to watch – to its credit it’s not.

The opening montage talks about the special guest stars that will be in attendance at the event including Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, etc.  Looking like the WWF is starting to REALLY branch out into “sports entertainment” at [...]]]> Event: WrestleMania XI
Date: April 2, 1995
Venue: Hartford Civic Center (Hartford, Connecticut)
Attendance: 16,305

The opening montage talks about the special guest stars that will be in attendance at the event including Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, etc.  Looking like the WWF is starting to REALLY branch out into “sports entertainment” at this point.  We get a Special Olympian’s rendition of America The Beautiful.  She’s over singing BIG time complete with the waggle in her voice.  I don’t care if she’s “special” – she sucks.

The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and The British Bulldog) defeated The Blu Brothers (Jacob and Eli) (with Uncle Zebekiah)
The Blu twins look like Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds.  Great character in a movie… not a great gimmick for a wrestler in my opinion.  Then again, I never was a big Hillbilly Jim fan either so I’m not a big fan of the whole “mountain man” thing.  Luger and Bulldog in charge early allowing Bulldog to show off with a HUGE suplex on one of the twins.  Cause they look alike, the twins pull the whole “change with no tag” spot.  Come on guys… leave that to the Killer Bees.  Hot tag to Luger who hits a lame looking power slam.  He then hits a flying forearm with no mention of the plate in his arm.  Guess that’s only for when he’s a heel.  The twins pull the no-tag switch again so he’s able to kick out of the loaded forearm.  One of the twins go for a pile driver on Luger and Bulldog comes off the top for a sunset flip and the win.  Bulldog and Luger pose after the match with music and lighting.  So so to kick off the show.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Razor Ramon (with The 1-2-3 Kid) defeated Jeff Jarrett (c) (with The Roadie) by disqualification
We get a promo of Razor and Kid backstage… Christ, these guys have been together forever! Good recap of how JJ won the title which is good cause I had no idea – interference by the Roadie in case you were wondering. Razor is in charge early with JJ playing the heel to perfection. Razor whips JJ into the corner and totally fucks up – he’s working moves that just aren’t there. Hilarious. Razor goes for his finisher and Roadie pulls JJ out to save him. As I watched this I realized that I’ve never been a big fan of “outside interference” matches. Let the guys wrestle… tell the story in the ring. I don’t mind a little bit, but when the crux of the story is outside the ring it gets to be a bit much for my liking. On top of it all, this is a very sloppy match. We then go into a portion of the match where both guys keep hitting moves on the same time and both keep going down (same time punch, etc.). JJ hooks the figure four in the middle of the ring. Razor has JJ up for the Razor’s Edge once again and Roadies comes in to cause a DQ. Cluster fuck after the match with Roadie, Kid and referees. Ehhh..

The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated King Kong Bundy (with Ted DiBiase)
Bundy vs. Taker for the urn??? I’ve never liked that prop even though Taker is my favorite wrestler of all time. Absolutely love the purple outfit that Taker’s in here. For some odd reason we get an American League baseball umpire as the referee in this match. Doing some Wiki searching I realize that baseball was actually on strike during this time (ironically, the strike ended the day of this event). About a minute or so in, Taker walks out and grabs the urn from DiBiase. Ted then calls Kama out to ringside and he grabs it back and takes off… um, OK. He says he’s going to melt it and make a chain out of it. Remember, this is pre-Ho Train Kama/Godfather here so now we know where he got some of his bling. Bundy is in charge with some rest holds until he hits an Avalanche and the Undertaker stands straight up completely no selling it. Big slam on Bundy (was he going to try for a Tombstone?) and Taker adds to the streak.

WWF Tag Team Championship
Owen Hart and Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated The Smoking Gunns (c) (Billy and Bart)
Yoko is a surprise as they interview the Gunns. Right off the bat you know they’re gonna lose the titles. Yoko is absolutely HUGE. I’ve always been impressed with the way Yoko moves for such a big man. Pretty typical stuff here with some good double team stuff thrown in by the Gunns. Vince starts to talk about how the Smoking Gunns have been having issues with Men On A Mission. Are we going to see them do a run in? Billy’s playing the face in peril here and finally works for a hot tag to Bart. Gunns go for a double team but Yoko gets a belly to BIG belly on Billy. He then follows that up with the Banzai Drop. Bart breaks up the tag, but Owen gets tagged in and makes the cover for the win and the straps. Outcome was obvious as soon as Yokozuna was announced as the partner.

“I Quit” Match
Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund
Can someone please tell me why Bob Backlund is in this high profile of a match this late in his career? He’s got the charisma of a folding chair. Piper’s the special guest referee and quite honestly is completely annoying. He grabs the mic every two seconds when someone’s in a hold asking them if they give up. Hart gets a figure four on and is totally in charge early. Both Hart and Backlund do a good job telling the story here as Hart’s working on Backlund’s leg and Backlund’s working on Hart’s arm. I’ll say it again… I know it’s a submission match, but Piper needs to shut the fuck up. Bret whips Bob into the corner and follows him in getting posted on his shoulder. This sets up Backlund to go for his finisher the Cross Face Chicken Wing. Bret reverses the hold and beats Backlund with his own move though in all honesty Backlund never said “I Quit”. More of a “Arggghhshshshdhg” type sound. Good match here that from a historical perspective is a great precursor to the Hart/Austin match at WrestleMania 13.

WWF Championship
Diesel (c) (with Pamela Anderson) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Sid and Jenny McCarthy)
HBK accompanied to the ring by Jenny McCarthy. Wow. Have to say that I absolutely love the HBK mullet here as it’s in full effect. Diesel comes out and the motions to the back. Here comes Pam who’s been missing all evening and was supposed to come out with Shawn. I remember this match specifically because it showed me what a great worker Shawn is with any size opponent. He takes some AMAZING bumps including a huge back body drop. At one point, he’s tossed over the top and lands on a photographer and get legitimately pissed at the guy. Pretty funny to see wrestlers break character like that. Shawn’s great at carrying the big men and it never ceases to amaze me how FAST he is in the ring. Some good stuff with Shawn attacking Diesel outside the ring here. Shawn’s in charge for a good few minutes mid match. Shawn hits the elbow off the top to Diesel’s ribs and follows that up with a sleeper that puts Diesel down for quite a while. Diesel works out and mounts some offense. I know HBK is the “Boy Toy” and all, but must he ALWAYS show his ass? The official is out of position at one point (twisted ankle) and Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music but doesn’t have a ref to get the cover. Shawn goes up to the 2nd rope and Diesel catches him in a sidewalk slam. Diesel hits the Jackknife (though a terrible one) for the win and retains the title. Good match that should have been the main event. Diesel leaves with both Pam and Jenny on his arm. I have absolutely no desire to watch Bam Bam and L.T. at this point.

Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (with Ted DiBiase)
Money Inc. and the All Pro Team are introduced. They star jawing pre-match though we KNOW that there’s no way in hell L.T. is going to lose this match. This was such a bad idea from the get go it’s not even funny. What DID Bam Bam do to deserve this? I’d love to see a celebrity actually lose one of these matches… has that ever happened? In any case… Taylor hits Bam Bam with a HUGE forearm to start the match and follows up with a clothesline over the top. I’ll give him credit – L.T. is really taking it to Bam Bam early on. Bam Bam takes over and we get a bunch of forearms and head butts from both guys. Taylor is just terrible and unfortunately Bam Bam isn’t good enough to carry him (though I’m not sure anyone would have been). Bigelow slaps on a Boston Crab and Taylor works his way out. Bam Bam goes up and hits a splash moonsault off the top. He goes for a cover and rolls off after a 1 count. Apparently he’s “hurt his knee”. Taylor hits a “Jackknife” because apparently he’s been training with Diesel and gets a 2 count. Bam Bam works back into it and manages to hit his patented head butt off the top rope and Taylor kicks out. L.T. gets a 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th) wind and hits Bigelow with 2 forearms and the follows that up with a flying forearm off the second rope for the win. After the match L.T. looks like he’s injured himself. Absolutely awful way to end the show.

General Thoughts

• They’re having a ton of technical difficulties throughout the show.  What the hell guys… it’s not like this is your Super Bowl or anything.  Guessing someone lost a job over it.
• Nicholas Turturro is in Pam Anderson’s dressing room with Jenny McCarthy.  DAMN is she hot.
• The “celebrities” of this event are incredibly weak.  We’re getting back stage interviews with L.T.’s All Pro team calling out wrestlers and Bob Backlund playing chess with the kid from Tool Time.  Ouch.
• Bam Bam gives an interview part way through the show saying that he won’t be known as the man who lost to L.T.  Um… yeah you will.  I feel bad for you Bam Bam.  You deserved better.

We kick off the show with images from the original WrestleMania.  Little Richard sings America The Beautiful poorly.  Pretty sure he was lip syncing and he looks like a damn wax statue.  Scary dude.  We [...]]]> Event: WrestleMania X
Date: March 20, 1994
Venue: Madison Square Garden (New York, New York)
Attendance: 18,065

We kick off the show with images from the original WrestleMania.  Little Richard sings America The Beautiful poorly.  Pretty sure he was lip syncing and he looks like a damn wax statue.  Scary dude.  We get Jerry “The King” Lawler and Vince McMahon on the mic.

Owen Hart defeated Bret Hart
We get a great recap here pre-match.  Probably the best of the series so far.  We’re then treated to a weak ass fireworks display and then FINALLY nearly 15 minutes after the show started we get the first bell.  Owen playing the heel to perfection.  We start out with some good wrestling and reversals from both guys and right off the bat you know this is going to be a good match.  Great stuff.  Bret takes a whip to the ropes/turnbuckle better than anyone in history.  Great looking Camel Clutch by Owen on Bret that they don’t reference by name.  Course not… then it would be a finishing move.  Awesome match back and forth between both guys.  Owen hits a non-named Tombstone and follows up with an attempt off the top rope which he misses.  Owen goes for a Sharpshooter and Bret reverses it but neither man get it locked on.  Nice innovative spots there.  Bret hurts his knee and Owen starts in.  Figure Four, leg sweeps, etc.  Talk about back and forth action!  Bret hits a superplex off the top.  Owen finally manages to lock in the Sharpshooter and Bret breaks and reverses it.  Bret goes for a victory roll and Owen drops down to get the pin and the victory.  Fucking outstanding match.  It made my Top WrestleMania Matches list as an honorable mention and definitely deserves to be there.

Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeated Doink the Clown and Dink
Wow… how in the hell did we get here?  Doink and Bam Bam start out with some standard stuff and eventually Dink and Luna get in on the action.  I mean really… how much can you do with a midget against a regular sized person?  Though I do have to say that seeing a midget go off the top rope is hilarious.  Huge DDT by Doink on Bam Bam.  Doink goes for his finisher but misses.  Bam Bam takes over and hits a head butt off the top for the victory.  So so match, but luckily it was pretty short.  Post match Dink goes after Bam Bam.  He and Luna go to splash dink but they blow the spot.

Falls Count Anywhere Match
Randy Savage defeated Crush (with Mr. Fuji)
In this “falls count anywhere” match you don’t actually lose the match if you’re pinned.  You have to also fail to return to the ring in 60 seconds.  Crush comes to the ring rocking a serious mullet and Savage attacks before the match starts and we’re off.  The first fall comes after about 30 seconds or so which sets the tone for the entire match.  Savage has to make his way back to the ring after being dropped across a retaining fence.  Naturally he makes it back with about 1 second to spare.  Crush goes for the dreaded “salt to the eyes” but it gets reversed.  Savage takes over and hits the elbow.  After dumping Crush to the outside he gets the fall.  Crush back in with 2 seconds to spare.  At this point they begin to battle through the crowd and to the backstage area.  Savage gets a pin and then hogties Crush upside down in the back.  Crush can’t make it back to the ring in time and Savage gets the win.  Decent match, but due to whole “get back in 60 seconds” rule we lose quite a bit of urgency.

WWF Women’s Championship
Alundra Blayze (c) defeated Leilani Kai
Leilani looks like she’s been ridden hard and put away wet.  Pretty typical women’s match for this day and age (pre Diva stuff).  Blaze gets the victory with a German suplex.  Skip this match completely.  The only noteworthy thing about this one is we’re shown Volkoff, Lou Albano, May Young and Moolah in the crowd.

WWF Tag Team Championship
Men on a Mission (Mabel and Mo) (with Oscar) defeated The Quebecers (c) (Jacques and Pierre) (with Johnny Polo) by countout
M.O.M. raps on the way to the ring… dear lord.  Johnny Polo (also knows as Raven) leads the Quebecers.  MOM in charge early.  Quebecers make a comeback and pull off a nice move where one body drops the other over the top onto the good guys.  Mabel gets a hot tag and cleans house.  The Quebecers get an impressive looking suplex on Mabel (damn that’s a big dude).  They hit their finisher and Mabel kicks out.  Thankfully this comes to an end when MOM win by countout.  Pretty piss poor match.

WWF Championship
Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) defeated Lex Luger by disqualification
Mr. Perfect is the special guest referee and Yokozuna comes to the ring first which sucks – champ should always be in last.  DAMN is Yokozuna big dude.  RIP sir.  Luger gets a real near count with a cross body off the top rope.  Follows that with a HUGE elbow drop.  He then goes for a slam and doesn’t even come close.  Naturally after the failed body slam attempt by Luger, Yoko takes over.  It’s not his fault but being so big his move set is very limited.  He goes into a nerve pinch (rest) hold for a few minutes until Lex gets up and breaks the hold.  At this point, we go into a terribly frustrating portion of the match.  Yoko beats down Luger who gets up, gets some offense in for a minute and then gets beat down by one single punch/kick from Yoko and we follow that up with a minute of a rest hold.  Ugh.  Luger fights back to his feet once again and gets hit with a HUGE belly to belly suplex.  Lex manages to hit Yoko into the exposed turnbuckle.  Luger knocks Yoko off his feet after multiple clotheslines.  Luger then follows that up with a slam (wow) and hits the loaded elbow/forearm.  Yoko out cold.  Cornette and Fuji in to the ring and Luger attacks them and the covers Yoko forever and a day.  Perfect goes to see how Cornette and Fuji are but doesn’t make the count.  Luger gets off of Yoko and goes after Perfect wondering why he’s not counting pushing him in the process.  Perfect then DQs Luger which leads to the crowd starting in on a “bullshit” chant.  I agree folks… fucking terrible.

Earthquake defeated Adam Bomb (with Harvey Wippleman)
Pre-match, Wippelman and Fink (?) get into it.  Why, I have no idea.  Who in the hell wants to see that?  Adam Bomb out and grabs Fink.  Earthquake out to make the save and… oh yeah… to have a match.  He gets the squash victory.  Bad but mercifully quick.

Ladder Match For The WWF Intercontinental Championship
Razor Ramon (c) defeated Shawn Michaels (with Diesel)
This is the ladder match that started it all.  No rules.  The storyline here is Shawn Michaels has a belt that he claims he is the rightful owner of since he never lost it.  Razor’s got a belt that he won when Shawn vacated his title.  To win, you’ve got to scale the ladder and retrieve both belts.  Outstanding mullet for Shawn who’s led to the ring by Diesel.  Razor’s out to some of my all time favorite entrance music.  No ref in the ring but have a couple outside the ring.  Great back and forth action here at the beginning.  Diesel gets involved and nails Razor on the outside.  He promptly gets removed from ringside for the duration of the match.  This naturally makes no fucking sense cause there are NO RULES in this match, so technically what he did was just fine.  In any case, the match continues and Razor removes the padding from the concrete and immediately gets back body dropped out of the ring onto the exposed floor.  Sucks for you Razor.  HBK gets the ladder and begins laying into Razor.  He hits the “ass out” elbow off the ladder which is hilarious.  HBK slams Razor and then proceeds to splash him off the ladder for a what I consider to be my first true “holy shit” moment in professional wrestling.   Razor turns it around and nails Shawn with the ladder out of the ring.  Razor attempts to climb the ladder but Shawn comes off the turnbuckle knocking Razor off the ladder.  Both men climb the ladder and Razor hits a suplex off the ladder.  At this point, the original ladder is broken and twisted.  Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music and follows that up with a big pile driver.  Shawn then “rides” the ladder out of the corner onto Razor – great spot.  Shawn sets up Razor under the ladder and attempts to climb the ladder.  Razor back up and knocks Shawn off the ladder who gets crotched on the top rope in the process.  Shawn’s leg gets wrapped up in the ropes and he can’t get free to stop Razor from climbing the ladder and grabbing the belts and the victory.  Absolutely AWESOME match which is why it made my Top 10.

WWF Championship
Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette)
Roddy Piper is the special guest referee for this match and Yoko once again comes to the ring first.  Interesting to note that this is the second WrestleMania is a row where this is the billed main event.  Nice that we get an actual match this time rather than the screwy “Insert Hulk Hogan As Champ” that we got last year.  Bret’s really limping on his way to the ring selling his injury from his previous match nicely.  Yoko takes over early and is in charge for the majority of the match.  Bret manages some offense and Yoko strikes back to take the advantage.  Piper is REALLY fast with his counts on chokes, count outs, etc.  It’s very weird that for such a big guy, Yokozuna never really sweats.  He’s gassed but not sweating.  Yoko charges into a corner and misses which Bret follows up with a bulldog, a forearm off the 2nd rope and a clothesline leading to a bunch of near falls.  Bret goes for another and is caught with a big belly to belly suplex.  Yoko drags Bret to the corner to go for the Banzai Drop and falls off the ropes?  What the fuck?!?!?  Bret gets the pin without another move.  Absolutely terrible ending to a pretty decent match.  Post match, the locker room empties and comes into the ring to give Bret his props.  Owen comes out and scowls at Bret as the show goes off the air.

General Thoughts

• The Heavenly Bodies beat The Bushwhackers in a dark match.
• Throughout the DVD, we’re showing “WrestleMania Moments” from the previous events.
• I absolutely LOVED Vince McMahon when he was a “just” a ring announcer.  Pure gold on the mic.
• The opener here between Bret and Owen is better then the entire WrestleMania IX card put together.
• The “celebrities” for this event are terrible.  Sy Sperling (the Hair Club For Men guy) and a Bill Clinton lookalike?  Come on.  Rhonda Shear and Donnie Whalberg as timekeeper and announcer?  The one bright spot here is Jenny Garth as the guest timekeeper for the main event… nice.  Love me some 90210.
• The ring sounds completely “hollow” during the counts.
• Pretty sloppy programming as there was a 10 man tag match that was apparently scheduled and scrapped.
• Even though there’s some stinkers in here, the fact that it contains two of my Top WrestleMania Matches makes it a decent show.