Event:

We kick off the show with images from the original WrestleMania.  Little Richard sings America The Beautiful poorly.  Pretty sure he was lip synching 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.

Event:

This show was billed as having a “double main event” which rarely (if ever) works out.  I believe that this is the first Mania event that I watched live on PPV.  We get Gorilla and Bobby Heenan on the mic here which is a good lineup.  Reba McEntire sings the national anthem.  It seems weird that the WWF can never make up its mind.  National anthem or America The Beautiful?

Shawn Michaels (with Sensational Sherri) defeated El Matador
Tito’s gone “El Matador” on us which is just so sad.  Shawn is heel at this point and really coming into his own as a singles wrestler (even though he’s leading off this card against an aging Tito).  Tito in charge early and sends HBK to the outside.  He yanks him back in and goes directly into a side headlock (rest) that lasts WAY too long.  Come on guys… you can’t be gassed yet can you?  Small package?  Side headlock.  Whip to ropes hop over?  Side headlock.  Shawn gains the upperhand when Tito goes to the ropes and Shawn sidesteps him and throws him over the top.  HBK is sporting a beautifully fluffed mullet at this point.  Very slow match.  HBK hits his super kick which is not yet named “Sweet Chin Music” but rather the more mundane “crescent kick”.  He goes for his side suplex finisher but Tito catches him with a forearm and follows up with his flying forearm and sends Shawn to the outside.  Tito brings him back and and Shawn scores a pin out of nowhere for the win.  No replay on that one.  Pretty weak match.

Before the next match we get an interview the Legion of Doom and Paul Ellering.  “We’re the best blah blah blah”, “We’re not here to mess around blah blah blah”.  “Ooooo, what a rush…”

The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Jake Roberts
Pre-match we get a Sean Mooney interview with Jake where he’s talking about how Jack Tunny says that he can’t bring a snake to the ring.  After that we get a nice recap package of this feud.  Undertaker is a face by the point but is still doing the very methodical/plodding thing in the ring.  Jake is doing the quick strike approach keeping his distance in the ring.  Jake hits a clothesline which sends Taker over the top 360 style but he lands on his feet.  Back in the ring, Jake continues with the upper hand until Undertaker takes over with some blatant  choke holds.  Taker breaks out the heavy artillery and hits some big moves (elbows, clotheslines, etc.)  Jake hits the DDT out of nowhere and Taker sits right up.  Jake plants him HARD with a second one and Taker stays down.  Instead of going for the win, Jake goes outside and grabs Paul.  This of course allows Taker time to grab Jake on the outside and hit the Tombstone on the concrete.  He rolls Jake in and covers him for the win.  Once again we get no recaps here.  Pretty slow match, but great for vintage Undertaker fans out there.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Bret Hart defeated Roddy Piper (c)
One of my Top WrestleMania Matches of all time and watching it again reaffirms that it was a good choice to be put on the list.  Before the match we get an interview with both champ and challenger at the same time.  Once we get in the ring we get right to it with a slew of arm drags.  Bret uses some leverage and tosses Roddy to the outside.  He gets pissed and proceeds to spit on Bret.  Strength test followed by a great spot where Bret grabs onto Roddy’s arm and won’t let go for like two minutes.  Hitman then “hurts his shoulder” and when Piper gets close enough he goes for a small package in the center of the ring… nice.  Piper hits a bulldog on Hart and Bret blades.  Not the best blade job of his career but it gets the job done and he’s bleeding like a stuck pig.  Roddy’s in control until we get a classic double clothesline.  Piper goes to the top (WTF???) and Bret catches him and turns it into his “5 Moves Of Death” -  inverted atomic drop, suplex, Russian leg sweep, neck breaker and back breaker but can’t get the Sharpshooter on.  A while later we get a ref bump.  Piper grabs the bell and does the “good guy” thing and decides not to use it.  He slaps a sleeper on Bret and Bret uses the turnbuckle to flip over.  Piper doesn’t release the hold and gets pinned.  Piper presents the belt to Hitman and they hug it out.  Outstanding match.

Next up we get an interview with Lex Luger sitting at home pimping the World Bodybuilding Federation.  He drinks a milkshake.  If that sounds pretty pathetic and boring it’s cause it is.

The Big Boss Man, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jim Duggan defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), Repo Man, and The Mountie (with Jimmy Hart)
Before this match gets started, we get interviews with the participants.  The interviews include so many wrestling cliches it’s not even funny.  Actually, it is kind of funny.  Ray Combs (of Family Feud fame) is announcing and trying to be clever.  I’ve just got to say… an 8 man?  Really?  Did I stumble into Survivor Series?  Pretty standard 8 man match here and nothing really noteworthy.  The end comes when Big Boss Man catches Mountie off the second rope and slams him.  A melee  ensues.  One Nasty Boy holds Virgil while the other winds up to hit him.  Naturally, Virgil ducks and one Nasty knocks the other out.  Good guys win.  Recommendation?  Fast forward.

WWF Championship
Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Ric Flair (c) (with Mr. Perfect)
Flair out first.  I’ll say it again, the champ should ALWAYS come out last.  Randy’s jogging to the ring.  When the hell did he get un-retired?  No Liz by his side.  Savage comes out on fire and takes control.  Bobby is going crazy but this lasts only until Savage gets back dropped to the outside.  Flair takes over with typical moves – chops, suplex, etc.  Savage getting his ass kicked for a good 8-9 minutes.  Ric going very slow and cocky… classic Flair.  Strut, beat, strut, beat.  Savage finally comes out of a corner and mounts some offense.  Flair goes up to the top (never a good sign) and naturally gets caught/slammed.  Double axe handle off the top to the outside from Savage.  “Flair flop” on the outside after getting rammed on the post.  Flair blades bad and is busted open.  Not sure where I read it, but Flair was fined quite a bit for this move as this was during a “no blood” period of the WWF.  Savage nails the elbow but Perfect stops the count.  Perfect then gives Flair a foreign object who proceeds to drill Savage with it.  Flair is REALLY bloody here.  We get a good spot with Flair sinking in the figure four on Savage and he’s got to really work to get out.  Out of nowhere, Savage goes for a rollover, pulls the trunks and gets the win and the title.  Post match, Flair kisses Liz (who’d made her way to ringside during the match) and she slaps him.  Classic Flair/Savage interviews post match in the dressing room.  Good stuff.  This is the version of Flair that I love (a cocky heel) and also my favorite version of the Macho Man (a little bit crazy).

Tatanka defeated Rick Martel
Christ.  Tatanka comes to the ring with some dancing indians.  This is worse than the opening to the Olympic games.  Bobby Heenan and Gorilla continue to talk about the Savage/Flair match WELL into this one (which tells you what you need to know about this match).  Martel playing the heel and Bobby Heenan being so un-PC it’s hilarious.  “Hey how are ya, hey how are ya.”.  Wow.  Model goes up and gets crotched on the top.  Tatanka hits a cross body out of nowhere for the win.  Lame.

WWF Tag Team Championship
The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) defeated Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) (c) (with Jimmy Hart) by countout
Earthquake now has a clone named Tugboat… ugh.  If you’ve been reading these recaps you know that I’m not a big fan of Earthquake, so you can imagine how much I’d like ANOTHER fat dude that can’t wrestle.  DiBiase and Schyster are good wrestlers, but even they can’t carry the Disasters along through this sloppy match.  Earthquake goes for his “balls to the face” finisher but Jimmy Hart sneaks in and pulls IRS out.  The champs walk out of the arena to get counted out.

Owen Hart defeated Skinner
Owen does a back flip into the ring and Skinner spits in his face to start the match.  After only a minute or so, Owen goes for a sunset flip and it’s over.  I simply do not understand why matches like this are on a WrestleMania card.  Save this shit for the Saturday morning shows or Raw.  I love Owen, but stuff like this is a complete waste of time and does nothing except piss off the fans.

Hulk Hogan defeated Sid Justice (with Harvey Wippleman) by disqualification
Pre-match we get an interview with Hogan and Vince where Hogan is asked if this is his “last match”.  In retrospect this is just laughable.  Sid does an interview complete with his “rule the world” bit which always kind of bored me.  “Real American” hits and the crowd goes wild.  Sid attacks before the bell rings and Hogan fights him off while the music continues to play.  The crowd is fucking HOT right now.  After a great opening this match slows down considerably.  Lots of time on the outside of the ring for Sid.  Back in we get a test of strength which is nothing more than a rest hold.  Sid hits a choke slam out of nowhere and then proceeds to talk to the camera rather than going for a pin.  When he returns, he goes straight into another rest hold (the shoulder pinch of doom) and Hogan’s hand falls twice.  Hogan powers out and Side regains control with a side suplex and shortly thereafter hits his power bomb finisher.  The power bomb actually looked pretty good.  I don’t remember Hogan taking that many big moves.  Hogan kicks out and “Hulks Up” hitting the boot, body slam and the big leg drop.  Sid kicks out!  Very happy to see this as that damn move always put people out.  I remember watching this not knowing what the hell was going to happen now.  Wippelman in and causes the DQ.  Papa Shango (WTF) comes out and starts beating on Hogan with Sid.  Hogan’s tied in the ropes and the Warrior’s music hits!  Warrior flies to the ring and clears house.  He and Hogan pose down to end the show.

General Thoughts

• In a dark match, the Bushwackers defeated The Beverly Brothers.  Thank God for dark matches.
• Apparently there was a match scheduled between The British Bulldog and The Berzerker which had to be scrapped due to time constraints.  Not really sure why as the match times only run just over an hour and a half.
• Heenan says, “I’m Indiana’s favorite Bobby.”  Absolutely hilarious seeing as this is prime time Bobby Knight country and point in his career.
• Heenan is now known as a “broadcast journalist” – a title which would follow him for quite a few years.
• Saw a couple of Horsemen banners in the crowd.  I still wish the WWF would/could have brought that stable in.  Woo!
• Warrior looked much smaller than when he left the WWF.  This no doubt fueled the rumors that this was a “new” Ultimate Warrior and that the original had died.

Dude would come to the ring with his bird Frankie (who died in a tragic fire a few years back… no shit).  On top of that, he’s probably most well known for singing the title track of the epic 1987 album Piledriver.  If you’ve never seen pictures of him and the late Owen Hart teamed up to form a tag team called High Energy you owe it to yourself to click on this link: High Energy.

In any case, I was perusing Wiki this evening and ran across this little nugget that made me smile:

“At the Survivor Series in 1990, Koko became the first wrestler to fall victim to The Undertaker’s Tombstone Piledriver in the Undertaker’s debut match.”

That right there is fucking cool.  Finally a reason to like The Birdman!

First off, if you’re not a wrestling fan you’re probably not going to get the brilliance of this book.  It’s over 500 pages long and the detail that Bret goes into is just short of photographic memory type recall.  He does make a reference early in the book of the fact that he kept a diary of sorts over the years but even still the details that he’s able to provide are amazing.

Bret is one of 12 children and he goes into a ton of back story about the Hart family tree which I really didn’t care for.  One thing that the family history did do is frame quite a bit of the angst that is common toward the end of the book.  While the Hart family is certainly synonymous with the wrestling industry this is a book about Bret.  He goes into a ton of details about his marriage, his family, in-laws, etc.  One thing that shocked me was how cavalier he was about his infidelity when on the other hand he was so adamantly against drug use, etc.

Speaking of drug use Bret really sheds some light on the professional wrestling locker room.  He tells tales of steroids, uppers, alcohol, etc. being used like it was candy.  Not only that, but he pulls no punches.  He names names, talks about how he doesn’t like this guy or that guy, and calls out quite a few people for being bad workers in the ring.  He obviously prides himself on his work ethic and it really comes through during these discussions.

If you’re only a WWF / WWE fan then you’re going to want to skip over about the first 200 pages or so.  Those chapters deal with Bret’s time in Stampede Wrestling and other promotions prior to his arrival in the WWF.  That said, I think you owe it to yourself to read that stuff cause there’s some incredible stories in there.  They really provide a foundation for the wrestler that was The Hitman.

Bret talks very openly about everything from his love/hate relationships with Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan, to the deaths of his brother Owen and countless other wrestlers.  He provides insight into the wrestling business that I’d never seen before (even though I’ve read more than 20 wrestling titles over the years).  He certainly paints some people in a good light and others he completely trashes.  In fact, as I was reading this I was thinking how awesome it would be to have a “rebuttal” book where people would go through chapter by chapter and respond or defend their actions.  The Vince and Shawn chapters would be AMAZING!!!

He talks openly about his divorce, his time in WCW after he left the WWF, Owen’s tragic death and his stroke.  I found it weird that he only mentioned that Chris Benoit was among those wrestlers that have died (not that he murdered his whole family).  I guess that’s one can of worms that Bret didn’t want to open.

I’m a big wrestling fan so I loved this.  If you’re not a wrestling fan you should probably pass as you’ll never get past the Stampede years.  If you’ve ever been a fan of The Hitman you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.  It’s a long read but it’ll give you more Bret Hart than you ever wanted.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant (WrestleMania III)
  This match had Hogan defending his WWF Championship against Andre in a classic match at the Pontiac Silverdome in front of 93,173 people.  It’s known as a “passing of the torch” match where Hogan slammed Andre and retained his title.  A little slow for my tastes but obviously on any top list based on the sheer magnitude of the match.

• Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter (WrestleMania VII)
  Sgt. Slaughter had won the WWF championship a few months earlier from the Ultimate Warrior. This was taking place during the first Persian Gulf war and Slaughter was playing the anti-American heel to perfection. Hogan was in full “real American” mode and wins back the title in a bloody yet completely predictable finish.

• Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X)
  No title on the line – just pride.  For months Owen had been bitching about how he was in the Hitman’s shadow.  In the end, Owen won an incredible match – and then watched Bret win the title at the end of the show.  Bummer.  Rest in peace Owen.

• The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WrestleMania X-Seven)
  The Rock who’s playing heel at this point defends his WWF Championship against Stone Cold (playing the face).  Pre-match this becomes a No Disqualification match.  After each wrestler uses his opponents finisher, Vince McMahon comes to the ring, turns on The Rock and gives Austin a chair which he uses to pummel The Rock winning him the title.  Another “double turn” which worked beautifully.

• Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 21)
  A straight up singles match.  Once again, no title on the line – just pride and proving how damn good you can be.  There were 3 more matches after this on the card but this one definitely stole the show.  Angle wins an unbelievable match where both guys gave their all.

THE TOP TEN

• Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage (WrestleMania III)
  Months before, Savage had attacked Steamboat crushing is larynx in the process.  This is Steamboat’s first match back and not only is it a grudge match, but it’s also for the Intercontinental title which Savage had held forever.  There’s a side story here with George “The Animal” Steele and Elizabeth but the reason this is a class is purely for the in-ring action.  Steamboat wins with an inside cradle after an unbelievable match.  Many consider this the best WrestleMania match of all time – I have a hard time disagreeing.

• Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage (WrestleMania V)
  After Macho Man won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania IV, he and Hulk Hogan teamed up to form the Mega Powers (essentially to keep Hogan in the spotlight and to set up this feud).  Long story short, Savage became angry when Miss Elizabeth took care of Hogan after a beat down.  This match was billed at The Mega Powers Explode with Hogan going after the title.  It’s pretty typical Hogan stuff in the end but like I said before, I’m an old school guy and for me this is a thing of mastery.  Seeing Hogan pose down after winning the title is second to none.

• Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania VI)
  Hogan has had the title since WrestleMania V at this point (see previous bullet).  For the first time in history this bout would pit the WWF Intercontinental title against the WWF Championship.  Also of note is this was a “friend vs. friend” match where it was about mutual respect rather than the typical “I hate you I’m going to take your title” stuff we normally get.  Warrior kicks out of the Hogan leg drop and hits his finisher to win both titles and start a great era in the WWF.

• Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart (WrestleMania VIII)
  This is a match for the Intercontinental title where Piper is defending against the Hitman.  It’s the first and I believe only time Piper held a title in the WWF and marks the beginning of Bret Hart’s singles run where he became a dominant champion.  This is just a classic wrestling match that goes back and forth.  In the end, Hart reverses a sleeper hold and pins Piper while being put to sleep.  There’s a great mutual respect angle at the end with Piper handing Hart the belt.  Nice.

• Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania X)
  This was a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.  Jack Tunney had stripped Shawn for not defending his title often enough and of course he didn’t think so… so there was two belts.  They were both suspended above the ring and “the ladder match” was born.  To this day, many people think this is the best ladder match in history.  Seeing “The Bad Guy” unify the IC title was an awesome spectacle for sure.

• Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania XII)
  This is the fabled “Iron Man Match” for the WWF Championship.  It’s before the Montreal Screw Job and it’s a time where both Hart & Michaels are in their prime.  The match is scheduled for an hour with the man gaining the most pin falls in that hour declared the champion.  They wrestled to a draw with Michaels trapped in the Sharpshooter to end the match.  In sudden death overtime, HBK hits Hart with Sweet Chin Music to begin his first title reign.

• Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WrestleMania 13)
  There’s no title on the line here – just hatred.  Hart & Austin had been going at it for months and their feud culminated with this match with Ken Shamrock as the special guest referee.  This is a No Disqualification Submission Match rendering the Stone Cold Stunner worthless.   They go back and forth beating the hell out of one another until Austin is a bloody mess and locked in the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring.  Austin “passes out” and never does tap out but Shamrock ends the match.  This match at the same time turned Austin face and Hart heel and kicked off the “Attitude” era in the WWF.  The “double turn” is incredibly difficult to pull off and it was done flawlessly here.

• The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania X8)
  Billed as Icon Vs. Icon, this match lived up to hype – but not in the way the WWF intended.  At this point Hogan has been heel ever since returning from WCW and The Rock is about the biggest baby face ever to grace the squared circle.  The crowd had other ideas however and were totally behind Hogan from the beginning of the match.  This was a back and forth match with each guy hitting their finishing move with their opponent kicking out to the shock of the crowd.  The Rock finally put Hogan away after a couple of Rock Bottoms but then returned post-match when Hogan was being beaten up by Hall & Nash.  One last Hogan posedown was in store for the crowd – I marked out so bad during this match it wasn’t even funny… totally a sign of a good match.

• Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit vs. HHH (WrestleMania XX)
  This match holds a special place in my heart because it was the main event at a WrestleMania that I ATTENDED!!!  This was the first ever Triple Threat Championship Match to headline a WrestleMania card.  HHH was the title holder and he’d been feuding with Shawn Michaels since their DX days.  Chris Benoit won that year’s Royal Rumble to win his title shot.  After an outstanding match Benoit made HHH tap out to the Crippler Crossface winning him is first World Heavyweight Championship.  Looking back now it’s pretty terrible to realize that both main event winners (Benoit and Eddie Guerro) are now no longer with us.  That said, I remember this match for what it was – superb storytelling amongst three outstanding talents.

• Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (WrestleMania XXV)
  It’s not often that a new match makes it onto this list.  This year’s 25th Anniversary show was pretty poor from top to bottom… except for this one.  Shawn Michaels is known as Mr. WrestleMania and The Undertaker (along with all of his other accolades) has “The Streak”.  Going into this show, he was an unprecedented 16-0 and WrestleMania events.  The build up to this match was incredible with HBK getting the upper hand on Taker for a couple of weeks running.  Once the match got going it was intense from the beginning.  There were quite a few false finishes making me really wonder if The Undertaker was going to get it done.  Even in a losing effort Shawn proved once again why he’s so damn good and Taker showed that he’s really got quite a lot left in the tank.